The Greatest Enemy Ever Faced
by AgiVega
Summary: Sequel to The Greatest Scandal in Hogwarts History and The Greatest Shame a Wizard Could Suffer. As a Charms professor Harry returns to Hogwarts, and as usual he ignores a prediction of Trelawney's. Maybe this time he shouldn't...
1. Prologue

**A/N:** hello, everyone! Can you believe it? I'm done with the story two weeks earlier than I had expected! As we say in Hungarian, _the Muse must have kissed me on the forehead_ – it means that I got inspiration :)

I hope you are happy with the early release, because I definitely am. 

I'd like to thank you all for the wonderful reviews I got for the first two fics. I'm saying thanks to all my faithful reviewers, as well as those dozens of people who had never reviewed before chapter 39 of TGSaWCS, but did so at the end.

Some of you have managed to guess that the Gabrielle/Draco conversation from the last chapter of TGSaWCS originated from Star Wars The Phantom Menace. Congrats to all those who wrote the right title! It's delighting to see that so many people love Star Wars :))))

To those who haven't read _The greatest scandal of Hogwarts history_ and _The greatest shame a wizard could suffer_: I strongly advise you to do so, or this fic won't make much sense.

Here's a **short reminder** of them to my faithful readers:

**TGSoHH:** Ginny got pregnant with Harry's child in her sixth year. The Weasley family freaked out, journalists flooded the Hogwarts castle and Harry had to leave. While Ginny carried the baby and gave birth, Harry was amnesiac, due to Draco Malfoy's evil poison. 

Lucius Malfoy happened to lie to his Dark Lord and in return he got a nice bit of _Crucio_ that drove him crazy. 

Harry spent time in Egypt and India. In Egypt he got to know about Apophys' torch – the Green Flame Torch – that, if used by a Parselmouth, could revive the dead. 

Voldemort had been delivered a secret 'immortality-potion-recipe' by Severus on Albus' orders. Snape had managed to deceive Voldemort and make him believe that he was on his side. In order to make the potion (that needed the blood of Harry's child), Voldemort kidnapped Ginny and the newborn Lily. However, he got thwarted: after Harry regained his memories, he hurried to save his family. 

Voldemort tried to kill Harry but Ginny jumped in front of him, receiving the _Avada Kedavra_ curse instead. It bounced off of her, killing Voldemort, but she also died. Harry brought back her soul from the netherworld by using the Green Flame Torch. 

All the death-eaters who had helped Voldemort in this little kidnapping-business got shut into Azkaban – save Lucius Malfoy who was at St. Mungo's lunatic ward.

After the Dark Lord's defeat Lucius Malfoy got his sanity back, Neville's parents also healed. Neville became a famous Quidditch player – a Seeker for the Whimbourne Wasps. 

There was a triple wedding at the end: Harry-Ginny, Ron-Hermione, Dudley-Millicent Bulstrode. Petunia and Vernon had a second child called David. 

_Important characters introduced in this story_: Abysmal sun-Amun (an Egyptian memory-specialist) and his daughter Anck-sun-Amun, who married Gilderoy Lockhart.

**TGSaWCS:** Harry's second child, Daniel, was born a squib. This got his marriage to Ginny into a crisis. Harry went to Durmstrang to judge at the Triwizard Tournament. The other judges were: Minerva McGonagall, Viktor Krum (Durmstrang's headmaster), Madame Maxime (now Hagrid's wife) and Aberforth Dumbledore (Albus' brother). 

The Potions professor of Durmstrang – Tatyana Fiodrovna - had an evil plan: she wanted to revive her sleep-cursed lover, but the only way she could do it was to use the magic powers of a person who had already been in the netherworld. Harry was the person she needed. In order to suck away Harry's magic powers, she had to sleep with him three times. She bewitched poor Harry and rid him of his powers. 

Tatyana's evil lover – Anor – got awoken and kidnapped everyone from Durmstrang. 

Ginny and Harry had some special rings that glowed if one of them was in trouble. So Ginny got to know that something was amiss with Harry, and with the help of Draco (who was in love with her) she hurried to Durmstrang to save her husband and friends. Later Arthur, the twins, Ron and Lucius Malfoy also went to rescue. They all ended up in a castle called Azgard where Anor had lived before he got sent into his curse-sleep. Anor and Tatyana died. 

Harry caught a magic goldfish in the lake of Durmstrang – a goldfish that fulfilled three wishes. Harry's wishes were: 1: to save the dying Aberforth, 2: to rid Remus of his lycantrophy, 3: to make all his descendants be magic. The goldfish turned out to be a witch. For his selflessness, Harry got his magic powers back from the fish/witch and her husband Aaron (brother to Anor). 

Ginny turned out to be Parselmouth just like Harry – she had become one when she got revived by Apophys' torch. She got pregnant again – this time with triplets. Minerva married Aberforth. Hermione had twins called Viviane and Valentine, Angelina had a son called Kevin, Percy had a son called Lancelot. David Dursley – born in the previous fic – turned out to be a wizard, that made Vernon and Petunia freak out, so Dudley and Millicent took on to raise the kid. Lucius Malfoy had a second son called Norbert.

_Important characters introduced in this story_: Tatyana, Anor, Aaron, Desideria the goldfish (Aaron's wife).

Whew, this wasn't short at all! :)

As I have told you several times before, this story is going to focus on the children mentioned above, but Harry and the old gang will also have a role (especially Harry, Albus and Snape).    

I cannot promise you to keep everyone totally in character, but I'll at least try. I have been accused of having shallow characters and I'm not sure at all whether the characters in this story are any better than in the first two, but I hope that at least Daniel (the central character) will be controversial enough for you.

At the beginning this story will seem to be more light-hearted than the second one, but later on you'll see that this is darker. It might resemble a bit a wizarding version of an Agatha Christie crime novel – hence the genre mystery. I was contemplating whether to give it the genre drama or angst, but mystery suited it better. There will be a lot of humour and also some romance, but it will be less sappy than the previous two fics. This story is mostly about kids in their early teens, so I cannot make them jump into bed with each other, can I? *innocent look*

The first 9-10 chapters will be build-up chapters, so they won't be exactly gripping, because I'll be introducing the new characters and their relations to each other, to the professors and to their subjects. I hope you'll still like them and hold out until around chapter 10 when the story 'sets into motion'.  

I lost many readers during the second fic – they weren't patient enough to wait until the build-up chapters were over and abandoned me at the beginning. I promise that in this fic there will be considerably fewer build-up chapters than in TGSaWCS, so please, be patient and keep reading – you won't regret it. When my mum told me that the second fic was better than the first I didn't agree with her, but I do agree with her that this fic is the best I have ever written, and I'm really proud of it. I hope that you'll like it as much as mum, my other beta Sienn, and I did.

Before you ask, the story has 31 chapters, and all in all is twice as long as TGSoHH (because of the long chapters).

Something important: reading the first two fics (especially the second) many of you were a bit superficial, that's why you didn't remember important details and then you complained that the story was confusing. Now **I ask you to** **heed the details** of this fic. Not all of them will be important, some of them are just there to make fun, but 80% of the details will turn out to be very important later and I don't want you yelling at me that you can't understand the storyline. (I tried to make it less confusing and less complicated than TGSaWCS, I don't know whether I have succeeded or not. Let's hope that I did.)

I must warn you that this story is evil. The basic idea of the first story was cute and innocent: make Harry impregnate Ginny and bring about a huge scandal. The basic idea of the second was darker and eviler: rob Harry of his magic powers. The basic idea of this one is pure evil, and I foresee that you'll be sending me howlers and curses near the end. (Haha, that will be fun! :) I must also warn you that the evilest cliffhangers will come up in this story. They'll be much-much-much eviler than the _'Harry Potter is dead'_ line in chapter 27 of TGSaWCS. So, read it on your own responsibility :)))  

**Disclaimer:** J. K. Rowling owns the original Harry Potter characters. I only own the ones made up by me.

I'd like to say **thanks to my two wonderful beta readers**: Sienn, and especially my mother. About one-thirds of the plot-ideas belong to my mum, so the story is just as much hers as it is mine – I don't want to take all the credit. You were great, mum, thanks a lot! 

And now, enough of me. *Looks back at the A/N* - almost three Word pages! Sorry for boring you with such a long intro, I'm shutting up now. Enjoy!

**_THE GREATEST ENEMY EVER FACED_**

****

by AgiVega

**Prologue / Chapter 1**

_"…draw your chair close _

_to the edge of a precipice_

_and I tell you a story."_

_/F. Scott Fitzgerald/_

_summer of 2011_

There were several sections in the Hogwarts library. There was a section for the history of wizardry, another for language-study containing dictionaries such as Mermish/English and English/Gobbledygook; there was a section for dragons, a section for advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts, there was the Restricted Section… and there was a section that had not been entered by a single student or teacher for centuries. This section was situated at the farthest corner of the library and looked utterly abandoned, since no one ever used it. Why? Because it was the oldest section of the library, containing books and parchments so old that they started to crumble away. This was the section that headmaster Dumbledore had ordered Madame Pince to look through and weed out the useless volumes.

Madame Pince was not thrilled by the idea. "Work, work and work! Even during the holidays!" she fumed as she entered the oldest section. She shuddered a bit as she looked up at the high shelves. There were about twenty of them, full of mouldy, dust-covered tomes. "I might have to work on this for a year!" she sighed, resigned. 

The Hogwarts library had always had an ancient air, but it was so dense in this section that it felt almost tangible. These volumes had not been checked out for hundreds of years… they were not even sorted into categories, maybe because the former librarians were afraid that if they touched them, they would simply fall into pieces.

Irma Pince also doubted whether she could sort out the useless books without harming the probably useful ones. With a sigh she pulled the first book off a nearby shelf – she had to start the work somewhere, after all…

The book had once had a ruby red cover, but all those years spent under a thick layer of dust left their mark on it. Its title was almost illegible, all Irma could make out was '_My ear itches'. It probably meant '__My dear witches', but the letters 'd' and 'w' were missing._

The librarian dipped into the book – it was written by hand since it had been bound centuries before that Muggle called Guttenberg invented printing. The book was about a wizard whose wife had been burnt at the stake. It dated 1032 – no wonder that the witch died, since the Flame-Freezing Charm was invented only decades later.

Pince closed the book and placed it on a table. Soon several other folios and parchments joined '_My ear itches'_ on the table. Some of them were written in foreign languages, others were in such a bad shape that Irma put them on a trolley on which she collected the 'useless' volumes. She was already ready with one shelf when she felt something whoosh through her, like a chilly gust of wind.

"Peeves! Is that you?" she shouted angrily. The poltergeist appeared out of nowhere, cackling.

"What is old Pincey doing?" he asked, picking up two old parchments from the trolley, starting to juggle with them. As he grabbed them again and again, just to throw them into the air again, little pieces of parchment fell onto the floor.

"That's enough, Peeves! Put them back on the trolley, immediately!" Irma cried, outraged.

"Oh, am I spoiling your hard work, Pincey?" the poltergeist laughed, taking a huge volume called _Owl Chronicles from the table, chucking it at a nearby shelf. The shelf happened to be a bit unstable, so it swayed and fell, hitting the next shelf, that hit the third one… until all the shelves in this 'very old section' were tumbled over, their contents scattered all around._

"Oh, no!" Irma clutched at her heart, fearing that it would stop beating. "How am I going to put this all right again?"

She knew that not even the strongest _Reparo could put all the thousands of books and parchments back in their places._

"Now this is definitely going to take me a year, if not two!" she shook her head in disbelief, tears brimming her eyes. "I've got to ask McGonagall to help me with this." she mumbled then remembered that Minerva wasn't available at the moment – she and Aberforth were visiting Viktor Krum in Bulgaria.

Headmaster Dumbledore was also out of reach, spending his summer holiday in the USA, visiting distant relatives. Pince did not know what relatives Albus had in the States, but for the time being she really did not care.

Resolutely she headed for the corner to see whether the last shelf that had fallen to the wall had dented it or not. Thanks heaven, it hadn't, but the mess around the fallen shelves was still too much for Irma's eyes to bear. With a huge sigh turned around to walk back to the first shelf when a small book teetering on the top of a pile of fallen books tipped over and fell directly in front of her feet. She bent down and picked up the small booklet. It was bound in fine, green leather that had turned greyish-green because of the mould that thickly covered it. It might have looked an ordinary book if it hadn't had two large letters on it: SS.

The letters bulged slightly and if you looked at them thoroughly, you could see two tiny serpent-heads at the upper end of the letters that once had been silver. Now they looked almost black, but they still managed to send shivers down Pince's spine.

She opened the small booklet and began to read the handwriting that was rather hard to decipher, since it consisted of ancient-looking looping letters that had unmistakably been that of a male.

_the 1000th year of the Lord_

_Yesterday I turned sixteen. My father gave me a sword as a present and my mother gave me this diary, saying that I should write down everything that happens to me. Father says it is unnecessary for a man to write and read, but what should I expect from someone who is illiterate, after all? _

It was my mother who wanted me to learn the art of reading and writing – she always wanted me to devote myself to the Lord and become a priest. Oh yes, even some wizards can be churchgoing. We need to show ourselves in the church every Sunday, or the King would suspect us. We magic people need to keep up the illusion of being Muggles if we want to avoid persecution. I for one despise Muggles, but for my family's sake I pretend to be one of them when we are among them.

So, my pious mother convinced my father that at least one of their sons should live a life committed to God, and father finally accepted this. At that time my brother Sergius was still alive and about to inherit the family treasures. Sergius died a year ago in a nasty Muggles illness (the plague, or what is it called?), and that was when my father took me out of the theological college and started to teach me the ways of a knight and a wizard. I am the only heir now, bound to come into the great wealth of the Slytherins.

Madame Pince turned over a few pages and continued reading the diary… the diary of Salazar Slytherin.

_the 1011th year of the Lord_

My father has turned fifty. In order to celebrate his birthday we have held a wizard-knight tournament at Slytherin Manor. My mother is a real Seer and likes crystal-gazing very much. She finds looking at the future rather entertaining. Once she saw a Muggle tournament – it will become popular among the Muggles in about a century, but mother already knows what it will be like: knights sitting on horses, holding spears and trying to push each other off their horses. For my father's birthday celebration my mother came up with the idea of such a tournament – wizard style.

_There were fifty 'wizard-knights' entering the tournament and it was decided by a draw who should be paired off with whom in the duels. The tournament lasted three days. At the end of the first day the most successful knight of the day chose the Queen of Beauty and Love by giving her a small wreath woven of flowers. The most successful knight of the day happened to be my best friend, Godric Gryffindor, who chose lady Rowena – my fiancée – to be the Queen. Truth be told I felt a pang of jealousy when he placed the wreath on her head – it should have been me who did it, not Godric, as my father kindly reminded me._

_Sir Henry Hufflepuff seemed to be offended by the fact that it was not his daughter, Helga, who got elected Queen of Beauty and Love. Helga is said to be the prettiest witch of our time, but I strongly believe that Rowena is prettier - and definitely wittier._

_Rowena, the 'Queen', got the task of crowning the victorious knight at the end of the third day of the tournament._

_On the second day the semi-finals took place. In the semi-finals I battled Sir Rowan Ravenclaw, brother of my dear Rowena. Godric fought Archibald Dumbledore, fiancé of Lady Helga. _

_The third day was the most exciting one: the final, between Godric and me. We were supposed to combat à outrance – until one of us died, but we agreed to do it until the first injury. We started the fight sitting on our broomsticks (that played the role of the Muggle horses), holding out our wands to push each other off our brooms. Godric was good but so was I, thus we managed to curse each other off our brooms right at the beginning. We continued battling on the ground. According to Helga Hufflepuff it was the most spectacular wizard duel she had ever seen. She was downright charmed by our performance and so was Rowena – well, almost. My Rowena seemed to be charmed when Godric managed to disable me with a well-aimed hex. So, Sir Gryffindor won the tournament and my fiancée was beaming. Does she love him and not me? I will have to ask her, I guess._

_No need to say how terrible I felt when Godric knelt down in front of Lady Rowena to receive his crown of golden laurels. At that moment I felt I hated him – my best friend! I feel ashamed and even scared by the thought, but, being a Slytherin, I would never admit it. Life goes on and next time I am going to beat Godric and win the tournament._

_I was in rather low spirits after these events, but I congratulated my friend and invited him for a drink. On our way to the tent we stopped several times to taste the wonderful tarts that witches had baked for the day's cookery contest and to listen to the beautiful songs sung by minstrels. Later Rowena and Helga joined us – Helga insisted on paying the gallant loser (me) a butterbeer. How could I have turned her down? While consuming our butterbeer we were talking about things – mostly about witch-hunts and the annoying compulsion to show ourselves to Muggles as though we were also like them._

_Rowena told us about the case of a thirteen-year old girl whose parents had died years earlier. She was brought up by her uncle – a rather sullen and grumpy wizard – who did not care to teach his niece how to control her magic powers. She happened to explode the altar of the local church and the Muggles arrested her at once. They tortured her until she admitted being a witch. She was burnt at the stake._

_After this story Godric was very mad and called the Muggles things I had never heard him utter before. Helga shrugged and nonchalantly commented: "There should be a school for witches and wizards where they could learn how to do magic and exercise control over their powers."_

_Judging by her expression, she didn't even realise that she had said something very clever. She only realised that she must have said something out of the ordinary when Rowena, Godric (and probably me, too) stared at her with eyes widened in surprise._

_"What?" she blinked, nervously arranging her ebony-black curls. (She does that all the time: whenever she is jittery, she starts sleeking her hair. It's rather annoying.) "Did I say something wrong?"_

_"On the contrary, dear!" Rowena reached out and pulled her into a hug. "You are a genius!"_

_Now Helga looked equally surprised. "Do you think it is a good idea? A wizard school?"_

_"The best I have heard these many years." Godric said with an extremely solemn expression, but, in spite of his seriousness, his eyes were sparkling with excitement._

_By the time we parted that evening, we had resolved to found a school for wizard youngsters. After Helga's pet warthog we decided to name it Hogwarts._

Madame Pince looked up from the booklet with her mouth agape.

"This diary must have been here ever since the school was founded!" she murmured. "How came it was never found?" It was obvious that if the poltergeist hadn't been annoying Irma, she wouldn't have found this diary now, probably just at the end of her months-long sorting-work…

She was just about to shut the book and close it into a Peeves-safe drawer of her desk when a small parchment fell out of it. Irma bent down, picked it up and saw that it was folded several times.

She unfolded it and saw that it wasn't small anymore – on the contrary: it was a huge, elaborately adorned parchment with beautifully written letters. It looked as though it had been written by monks who spent their lives copying codices. 

However, this one couldn't have been written by Muggle monks, since the script was in golden ink and there were four crests on it – crests in which the pictures (a lion, a serpent, an eagle and a badger) seemed to be moving.

When Irma realised what kind of document she had found, she almost dropped it in surprise.

"Albus has to see this!" she shouted and five minutes later a tawny owl was sent off to America with an urgent message from Madame Pince.

**A/N2**: my beta Sienn told me that she envied Madame Pince for having an opportunity to read through all those books and it must be fun to tidy up the old section. I told her that if she wanted to do it instead of Irma then she was a masochist :)

So, what kind of document did Irma Pince find and how will it influence Hogwarts' life in the future? You'll find out soon.

You might have guessed from the prologue that this story will be dealing with the founders as well. I think I have shamelessly neglected them so far, and I wanted to make up for it.

For the story's sake let's assume that old scripts can be read by modern people, no matter how hard it is to decipher them. I guess that a librarian should be able to read old stuff, shouldn't she?

In HP book one it is told that the Restricted Section is at the back of the library, but let's assume that this 'old section' is even more 'hidden' than the restricted one, okay?

The falling shelves idea came from The Mummy – I love that movie!

The idea of the Queen of Beauty and Love originates from Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (I don't know whether Lady Rowena was called that in Scott's book, I just translated it from the Hungarian version, never read it in English).

I know this chapter was short, but it was just a prologue, and prologues are supposed to be short. The next chapter will be VERY long, so be prepared! :)


	2. A new beginning

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, people! :)**

From now on I'm only going to give you announcements (if any) before the chapters, and all the 'answering-your-reviews' will be at the end, so that you won't have to roll down that much.

Today's announcement: the first chapter of my first fic is uploaded onto www.gryffindortower.net. My beta there is quite busy, so she can read through one chapter in two weeks, but slowly the story will be up on that site as well, in a revised and grammatically corrected version. If you feel like reading it there, do so :)

Second announcement: from now on I'll try and answer everyone, really, really everyone, even those who only write 'hey, good chapter'. So, find yourselves at the end in the second A/N section.

Many of you asked how often I would update. Well, once a week is guaranteed (with the exception of vis maior cases), probably twice, it will depend on how much people like/dislike certain chapters.

And now, onto the LONG chapter. (My computer has a knack of duplicating the words written in italics, so if something like that crops up, it isn't my fault)

**Chapter 2 **

A new beginning 

_1st September, 2011 _

_(A Thursday – because September the first_

_isn't always Monday!!! In 2011 _

_1st September will definitely be a Thursday.)_

A loud bang came from upstairs.

"What are you doing?" Harry shouted irritably.

"Nothing, dad!" came three voices from the second floor of Black Manor.

"Hurry up, Lily and Dan, or we'll be late for the train!" the young father yelled back.

"Coming, dad!" a skinny, short, black-haired, brown-eyed, bespectacled boy stormed downstairs, carrying a small rucksack. 

"Have you packed all your things?" Harry frowned, sizing up his son's tiny bag.

"Yep, dad," Daniel Leonard Potter beamed at him. "I can't believe I'm going to Hogwarts at last!"

"And I can't believe that we are going to be late if your sister doesn't deign to come down right now," Harry scowled. He was downright nervous – it was not only his son's first year at Hogwarts, but his own first year as a teacher as well. Good old professor Flitwick had decided to retire at the end of last year, and Harry took on his subject – Charms. 

Harry had spent ten years flying among Bludgers and Quaffles, but he was aware that the time came for every Quidditch-player to get off their broomsticks and do something else. He had been told by several people that he wasn't too old to continue playing Seeker, but he had decided that he didn't want to end his career losing match after match – he wanted to quit Quidditch before he started to grow too old for it. He knew many sportsmen who had kept playing as long as they could, but most of them became a laughing-stock at the end of their careers. 

Harry didn't want to become one – he wanted the Puddlemere United fans to remember Harry Potter at his glory, not as a superannuated Seeker who almost fell off his broomstick.

Harry had more pride than letting himself become ridiculous. So he changed his job. Not that he didn't miss Quidditch – he missed it terribly, of course. He might have stayed at Puddlemere United as a coach, but he didn't feel particularly attracted by that possibility. Thus, when Albus Dumbledore drafted an advertisement for the _Daily Prophet, saying that they needed a new Charms professor, Harry was more than eager to take on the job. This way he got the opportunity to return to the place where he had spent the happiest time of his life… __Hogwarts._

Hermione was still teaching Arithmancy there, but she didn't live in the castle – she lived with Ron and their three kids in Hogsmeade, where Ron's broomstick shop was running pretty well.

Ron and Hermione's twin daughters, Valentine and Viviane were starting at Hogwarts this year, along with Daniel, Kevin (Fred/George and Angelina's son), and Lancelot (Percy and Penelope's son).

"Dad, can't we go as well?" Richard, Robert and Rose Potter asked in chorus, descending the stairs.

"I've told you for a hundred times," Harry crossed his arms. "Next year. Just one more year, and you'll be at Hogwarts… and God help Hogwarts when you get there."

"Oh, but dad, we aren't that terrible, really!" Robert replied defiantly. 

"Yeah, you're not as terrible as Fred and George. You are worse," their father nodded, eyeing them in a scolding sort of way. 

"You're no fun, dad!" Richie pouted. "Anyway, whatever you say, we'll become the greatest magical mischief-makers Hogwarts has ever seen!" 

"Exactly," Rose nodded with an impish grin.

Harry rolled his eyes. These were his triplets, who – according to their uncles Fred and George - were bound to be worse than they had ever been. Harry was already dreading the time when they'd be off to Hogwarts. In his mind's eye he saw himself for several times – standing before professor McGonagall with burning cheeks, listening to the endless list of pranks his triplets had done… but that wasn't for another year. He heaved a relieved sigh.

"Where's Lily?"

"Up in her room, glued to the mirror, I guess," Rose wrinkled her nose. "That's what she's doing all the time nowadays… sitting before her vanity table, brushing her hair and humming some silly melody."

"Yeah… I think she's gone crazy, dad," Rob commented.

"Maybe not crazy…" Richie grinned, "just… er…"

"Er what?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Sssh!" Rose beckoned him closer.

"What?" Harry bent down to be at eye-level with his daughter.

"She… she fancies someone, dad," Rose whispered into his ear.

"Does she?" Harry blinked in surprise. He hadn't noticed any sign that could refer to that… but maybe he wasn't paying enough attention to his eldest daughter… not that Lily would have been too happy if her father had kept an eye on her all the time... She was an adolescent girl, after all, and children of her age never tolerated their parents meddling with their lives too much.

Still, Harry felt a pang of remorse – he had a thirteen-year-old daughter, and he practically didn't know her. He didn't even realise that she was seeing somebody – or was she? Knowing the triplets, it could be possible that they only made it up to annoy their older sister and of course their daddy – since it was their favourite pastime: to annoy good ol' dad.

Finally the stairs creaked, indicating that someone was coming down.

"Daddy, daddy, I wanna go with you! To Hogwarts!" little Lea Potter – only five years old – ran down the stairs, flinging herself on Harry. Her father scooped up the black-haired, green-eyed child. She, of all his children, bore the greatest resemblance to him. The triplets all had red hair, just like their mother and Lily.

"You cannot come, my sweet," Harry told Lea. "You know that."

"But I wanna come!" her tiny lips trembled and two big teardrops coursed down her cheeks. 

"You're too young, dear," Harry kissed her tears away. "But if you'll be a nice little girl, then you'll grow up quickly and you'll also come to Hogwarts – I promise you."

Harry's words didn't seem to take effect – little Lea was shooting accusatory glances at him, sniffing. "Then don't go! Stay, daddy!"

Harry was feeling terrible. How could he explain to a five-year-old that he had to leave – especially when that five-year-old was such a stubborn little tyke as his youngest daughter? When he had to leave for Russia eleven years earlier, he managed to explain it to Lily, but Lily was simply different. She was peaceful, understanding and overall a good little girl. Lea, on the other hand, was defiant, pretentious and way too much depending on Harry. She was the one of his six children who practically wouldn't let him out of her sight and started to wail whenever 'daddy' wasn't there for her. This made it especially hard on Harry to leave her, knowing how much she loved and needed him. 

"Listen, sweetie, daddy will try and come back as often as he can, okay? For example right on this weekend... And he'll bring you wonderful toys and Honeydukes sweets from Hogsmeade as well."

"Promise?" Lea sniffed.

"Yeah, daddy promises," Harry kissed her tear-soaked cheek once more, then put her down. "Now where on Earth is Lily?"

"Here I am, Harry…" his eldest daughter, who – at the age of thirteen still called him Harry – slowly descended the stairs.

Harry, the triplets and Daniel gasped.

"What have you done to yourself?" Richiard was the first to recover his voice.

"You look icky!" Robert added.

"You look like a…" Rose was looking for words.

"…scarlet woman," Lea helped her out.

Harry looked from his eldest daughter to his youngest – where on Earth did a five-year-old child learn such expressions?

"Yeah, thanks, sis, that was the word I was looking for," Rose nodded eagerly. "What have you done to yourself, Lil?"

"I just…" Lily gulped, "…wanted to look… better."

"Better?" Daniel laughed. "You'll never look good enough, Lil, not even if you spent a week at Gilderoy Lockhart's beauty salon!"

"Dan!" Harry shouted, giving his son a scolding look. However, he couldn't help but agree with his other children – Lily looked terrible: she might have tried to curl her hair, but she must have used the wrong charm, because now her always so tidy locks looked like a haystack. She also must have tried to use some kind of make-up-charm, but ended up bungling up the whole thing: there were vivid red spots on totally wrong places on her cheeks, she hadn't succeeded in making her pimples disappear, and now the rouge only enhanced them. The lipstick Lily was wearing terribly clashed with her rouge and her eye shadow gave the impression of her having two huge black eyes. Not to mention that she had done magic illegally, being underage and out of school.

"Do I really look that bad, Harry?" she groaned, chewing her lips, awaiting an answer from her father.

Harry, who had already realised that having adolescent kids wasn't a piece of cake, now felt that it was the most difficult thing possible for a parent: to tell his thirteen-year-old daughter that she had totally screwed up her looks.

"Er…" he cleared his throat. "Let's discuss this in the car, shall we? Get in, both of you!" he beckoned to Lily and Daniel.

"Can't we go and escort you to King's Cross?" Rob suggested.

"No," Harry shook his head.

"Let us go!" Richard pleaded.

"No."

"Dadddddyyyyy!" Rose gave him her most charming, father-heart-melting smile, combined with her thoroughly exercised puppy-stare. For a second Harry seemed to hesitate – Rose's smiles had always managed to make him do anything, but he decided to be the unwavering sort of father today.

"No," he shook his head. "Go up and tell mummy that we've left. You too, Lea."

Little Lea stuck out her tongue at him and ran upstairs. On the top of the stairs she bumped into her mother, who lifted her into her arms.

"You didn't think you'd leave without saying good-bye to me, did you?" Ginny scowled at Harry as she walked down the stairs, putting Lea down again.

"I thought we have said good-bye to each other rather nicely this morning," Harry blushed a bit at the memory of him and Ginny 'saying good-bye'.

"Ooooooh, daddy has turned pink!" Rose clasped her hands, as if she couldn't think of anything more delighting than seeing her father embarrassed.

"That's none of your business, kids," Harry gave the triplets a stare of disapproval then turned to his wife. "So, let's say good-bye once more, then." with that he pulled her into a tight embrace, catching her lips in a lingering kiss.

"Yuck! Let's go up, guys, I can't stand more of this!" Richie suggested and his twins agreed. By the time Harry and Ginny had parted, the triplets had already disappeared, probably to set off a couple of dung-bombs in little Lea's room.

"Um, that's more like it," Ginny grinned at her husband. "And now, go. You two, behave yourselves!" she turned to Daniel, but Lily wasn't there anymore. "Where's Lily?" she asked.

"Already in the car, I guess," Harry shrugged in the firm belief that it wouldn't do any good to Lily if he told her mother what she had done to herself. 

Five minutes later they were sitting in the family car – a Peugeot with a nice expanding charm on it. Harry was driving it to King's Cross, but Sirius would be driving the car back to the manor – they had agreed that Sirius would apparate to the railway station shortly before eleven o'clock to say good-bye to his godson and the two kids.

It had been Sirius' idea to buy a Peugeot for the family, since its emblem was a lion – how very appropriate for the Potters! 

"Harry… what should I do to put myself right again?" Lily wept in the back seat, examining herself in a mirror with a suffering expression.

"Ask McGonagall to transform your face into a totally new one," Daniel replied from the passenger seat. "It isn't worth sticking to the old one, really."

"Daniel!" Harry snapped. 

"It's okay, dad," Dan sighed. "But she really looks ugly this way."

"_This way she does," Harry nodded. "But otherwise she's a very pretty young woman." he cast a glance at his daughter from the rear-view mirror. Lily was still crying, her tears mingling with the rouge, smudging it totally. However, hearing her father's last comment, she looked up, giving Harry a grateful smile._

"Can you help, Harry?" she asked with a wavering voice.

"All right," Harry looked around to make sure that no Muggles were on the road then pushed the Invisibility Booster (installed by Arthur) on the dashboard. The car lifted into the air, invisible.

Now that Harry didn't need to care for the steering wheel anymore, he turned around in his seat, holding his wand. "_Fucus amoveo! There, you're back to normal, Lil."_

"Oh!" his daughter held up her mirror, looking at her reflection admiringly. "Thanks, Harry!"

"You're welcome," her father grinned. "But next time you decide to wear make-up, ask your mother to help, okay?"

"Uh-huh…" she muttered. "I just… I just wanted to hide my spots, you know…"

"And you just wanted to make Christopher Wood like you," Daniel commented.

"Shut up!" Lily retorted, furiously blushing.

"Chris Wood, eh?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I've heard about him. Also Gryffindor?"

"Er, yeah," Lily nodded.

"Is he a nice guy at least?" her father inquired. "If he is a bit like Oliver, then he must be a great guy, but I still don't approve of you going out with a boy, Lil. You're way too young and should you be thoughtless..."

"Thoughtless? You don't mean that you think I'd… I'd... Harry, I'm just thirteen!" she burst out. "The fact that you and mum did it when you were only children doesn't mean…" she looked up to see her father glowering furiously at her. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or anything… really… had you not been thoughtless, I wouldn't be here now…"

"Guess we'd be better off like that," Daniel smirked.

"Daniel!" both Harry and Lily shouted at him.

"All right, all right!" the boy said. "I was just joking, dad. You know how much I love my dear, big sister!"

"Love me?" Lily frowned. "That's why you put a hedgehog into my bed last week?"

"You did what?" Harry gasped.

"It wasn't me!" Daniel protested. "Or… okay, it was me, but it wasn't my idea! It was the triplets'! Honestly!"

"Now I feel a lot better!" Lily crossed her arms, fuming.

"Stop quarrelling, you two, we're almost there," Harry said, gently lowering the Peugeot onto the road, pushing the Invisibility Booster on the dashboard.

They were visible again.

Soon Harry parked the car and got a trolley. He started pulling out various packages from the boot: a small suitcase for Lily, a medium suitcase for himself, a big suitcase for Lily, a carryall for Lily, a duffel bag for Lily, a satchel for Lily, a toilet bag for Lily, and a tiny rucksack for Daniel. 

"Is this all you brought?" Harry got rather suspicious, opening his son's bag, ready for telling him off for having left all his things at home.

However, as he looked into the bag, it seemed to have a huge pack of clothes, books, a cauldron, scales, Potions ingredients and everything needed in it – and only the half of it was filled.

"What have you done to this bag?" he furrowed his brows. 

"It's just magically expanded a bit, dad," Daniel shrugged. "I thought it wouldn't harm anyone…"

"But how did you know how to do it?" his father inquired.

"Standard book of spells, page 47," the boy replied. Seeing his father's unbelieving face, he flinched. "All right, it wasn't me. Uncle Fred did it for me."

"Yeah, who else?" Harry shook his head, pulling three cages out of the boot – one of them contained Hector, the other contained Helena, and the third had the good old Hedwig in it. The faithful old owl was rather worn – the poor creature was more than twenty years old. Harry wondered how long owls lived, but his heart ached at the thought that one day he'd lose Hedwig. Hedwig, despite her age, was still always ready to carry letters, although she did it much slower than before. Harry, of course, kept praising her for her strength and persistence, deliberate to show her how much he valued her both as a friend and as a message-carrier.

"Abu!" Harry yelped as a rather old, but still vivid monkey that had been hiding behind the cages, jumped on his head. "What are you doing here?"

"I guess he wanted to come to Hogwarts," Daniel said. "May I take him? Please???"

"It's in your Hogwarts letter that the students can take an owl, a cat or a toad – no monkeys are mentioned!" his father reminded him. "Anyway, students can only have one pet!"

"He'd be staying in my dorm," Dan replied. "Really. And remember: Uncle Ron had a rat, and you also bought him a niffler and he kept it in the school for half a school year! And Uncle George told me about Lee Jordan's tarantula!"

Harry seemed contemplative for a moment. "Persuaded me. All right, Dan, but be careful with him! Don't let him wander around the castle, understood?"

"Aye-aye, sir!" Daniel saluted, grinning. "C'mon, Abu, hop on my shoulder!"

Daniel's owl, Helena, gave Abu a disapproving hoot, eyeing the monkey suspiciously.

"All right, kids, come on!" Harry put a padlock charm on the Peugeot and marched the children into the railway station.

"Hey, Harry boy!" he heard someone shouting. He turned around to see Fred and George waving madly at him, both holding a reddish-brown-haired boy by the hand.

"Hello, guys," Harry gave his brother-in-laws a smile. "Hullo, Kevin." he greeted the little boy.

"Hi, Uncle Harry," Kevin tore his hands out of the hands of his fathers, feeling a bit embarrassed. A big boy didn't need his parents to hold his hand, did he? "Hello, Dan. Lil."

"Hi, Kevin," the Potter children said in unison.

"Have you seen Bigheadboy and Lance?" Fred asked.

"Not yet," Harry replied. 

"Hermione and the twins won't be coming with the train, right?" asked Lily.

"Why would they? They live in Hogsmeade," George shrugged. "Oh, there is Percy! Hey, Perce, over here!" he started jumping to draw his brother's attention to them.

Percy, however, only nodded a bit with a rather despising look, then marched off with his wife and son right to the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Idiot," Fred snorted. "Since he became head of the Department of International Cooperation, you simply cannot talk to him. He's never been this stuck-up before."

"I guess you don't need to introduce him to me," Harry grinned. "Good old Perce, he never changes."

"Neither does his son," Kevin interjected. "He's a freak. Horrible, really."

"He's not that horrible," Lily replied. "Very clever boy."

"Ah, yeah, he knows everything about goblin revolutions, various events of magical history and of course he already speaks four languages…" Dan commented. "Which are those exactly, Kevin?"

"Um… Troll, Gobbledygook, Mermish and… Dragon."

"Dragons don't speak," Lily shook her head.

"According to Lance they do," Dan responded. "Uh, pardon me, did I say Lance? I should have said Lance_lot __Percival!"_

"You forgot _Galahad!" Kevin grinned as they arrived at platform nine._

"All right, everyone, platform nine and te,." Harry said. "You know the way, Lil, go ahead."

Lily nodded, pushing her trolley in front of her, heading for the wall. In one second she was still walking in the wall's direction, in the next she was gone.

"Is she on platform 9 ¾ now?" Daniel blinked.

"Exactly," his father replied. "See that divide between nine and ten? That's the one I have already told you about. Just walk straight at the barrier without stopping, and you'll get to the Hogwarts Express."

"Are you sure, dad? I mean… you said that people could go through, still… this wall seems rather solid to me."

"Absolutely sure," Harry smiled, remembering his own doubts about the wall the first time he saw it. If there had not been a certain Molly Weasley, he surely would never have got to Hogwarts… The prospect of going there filled him with a great deal of anticipation, just like twenty years ago. He barely could wait to relive the best moments of his childhood, to walk down those old corridors again, to get annoyed by Peeves' pranks… but he was a bit nervous as well – he didn't know much about teaching and feared that he wouldn't be good enough a teacher… and of course there was professor Snape whom he'd have as a colleague. He didn't know whether he'd like him more as a colleague than as a teacher, but he had serious misgivings about it. "Do it at a bit of a run, Daniel. Go on."

"Is that school matron really that good?" Daniel asked.

"Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Because if I break my nose on this wall, she'll have to fix me," his son replied, starting to run in the direction of the divide, closing his eyes, clearly expecting a collision.

*Just like me back then. * Harry smiled as his son disappeared through the wall.

Ten minutes before eleven o'clock, Sirius arrived to say good-bye to the Potters. Harry gave him the keys of the car and made him promise to look after Ginny, Lea and especially the triplets who had a knack of getting into trouble.

After Sirius disapparated, Fred, George and Harry helped the kids' luggage into the train. 

"Hey, David!" Lily started to wave from the window of a compartment.

"Lily!" a pudgy (but not fat) boy with curly blond hair and sky-blue eyes ran up to the train, followed by his parents: Dudley and Millicent Dursley. Millicent was holding a little girl – about seven years old – by the hand.

"Lily!" David repeated, beaming. "It's so good to see you again, I've missed you so much during the summer holiday!"

"I missed you, too," Lily smiled down at him. "Come, I've reserved a compartment for Yvette and us and for…" her voice trailed off.

"For Chris Wood, right?" Daniel interjected.

Lily blushed, not noticing the sour expression that fell over her second-cousin's face. David didn't like this Wood boy, Daniel told himself.

After David said good-bye to his parents (his sister, Daisy Dursley, was wailing that she also wanted to go to Hogwarts), he climbed up the stairs of the train and disappeared into the compartment that Lily had reserved.

Soon Bill Weasley also put in an appearance, carrying at least two dozen packages for his daughter, Yvette. Fleur didn't come – she was in France, visiting her mother.

Yvette – the prettiest Weasley girl with shining blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes – sat down between Lily and David. She was at her second year at Hogwarts. While Lily was in Gryffindor and David in Hufflepuff, Yvette had been sorted into Ravenclaw and seemed rather proud of it.

Dan and Kevin took place in a compartment at the very end of the train. Kevin was receiving his very last pieces of advice from his fathers:

_"Never cross McGonagall, Kevin, she's quite a tough lady!"_

_"Never dirty the corridors or you'll be caught by Filch!"_

_"Don't take good old Snapey too seriously, he's just pretending to be that nasty!"_

_"And behave yourself!"_

"Behave myself?" Kevin blinked. "That's a bit rich, coming from you, dads!"

The scarlet steam engine's funnel started to puff, and the Weasley twins and Harry stepped back a couple of feet, waving.

"Don't do magic on the train, kids!" Harry shouted.

"We can't promise you that, Uncle Harry!" Kevin shouted.

"See you in the school, dad!" Daniel waved.

The train had almost set into motion when a scrawny boy with dark hair came panting through the wall between platform nine and ten, running up to the train with his big packages.

"Hey, let me help!" Harry offered, seeing that the train was just about to set off and the boy wouldn't have enough time to get on all by himself.

The boy jumped up on the steps and with Harry's help, he heaved his luggage into the train.

As Harry wiped his forehead, the boy seemed to stiffen for a second, giving Harry a penetrating stare, his eyes focused on Harry's scar. Then he disappeared into the corridor and the train set into motion.

When Harry turned back to the twins, he was dumbfounded to see tears well up in their eyes.

"The little tyke's gone…"

"He's grown up, Fred… our little tyke…"

"Give me a tissue, George…"

"Here."

"Thanks."

"Thanks?" Harry frowned. "Really, this ill-mannered boy hasn't even thanked me for helping."

"Then the next time you meet him take fifty points off his house," George suggested, blowing his nose.

"If his house isn't Gryffindor, of course," Fred added, sniffing.

Harry, however, wasn't listening to them anymore. He sleeked his hair back to hide his scar, feeling rather uncomfortable. During the last ten years people started to treat him as 'normal' and he easily managed to get used to it – he was downright delighted to be able to live his life as any other wizard, without people gawping at him all the time. As the years passed after Voldemort's death, people seemed to have forgotten about him being The Boy Who Lived, and rather regarded him as a brilliant Quidditch player, to Harry's great relief. It felt good to be famous, but not _too famous._

After all these years of being 'normal', it felt odd to be gawked at like that again. A shiver ran down his spine.

*You're being silly, Harry. It was just a boy who heard about you and was probably curious… still, why do I have this creepy feeling?* he shook his head and decided to forget about it all.

"Right, guys, I'm going to apparate to Hogsmeade."

"Okay, Harry," Fred nodded. "And Harry… don't let Kevin get into too much trouble!"

"I'll try, all right?" Harry grinned at the twins. "But, Kevin being your son… I cannot assure you that he _can be kept out of trouble." _

After the twins disapparated, Harry watched the train disappear into the distance, its funnel ejecting black wisps of smoke onto the sapphire firmament. 

This train carried his son to a whole new world…

He just hoped that Daniel would fit into Hogwarts just as well as he had twenty years earlier. The fact that Dan was born a squib had opened a wound on his father's heart – a wound that had healed when Desideria The Goldfish fulfilled Harry's third wish, but Harry could never be absolutely sure whether his son would be talented enough a wizard. Daniel had done magic, of course, when his uncles Fred and George taught him (without Harry's consent), but Dan seemed to have difficulties with those charms.

Whenever Dan saw his cousins doing magic with their parents' wands (that they had nicked for a bit of experimenting), he had to realise that he couldn't perform them as easily as the others. At first Harry had no idea about Fred and George teaching the kids magic behind the parents' back, but one evening Daniel came to his father and asked him for a man to man conversation. 

Harry had been rather surprised, but of course he had gladly sat down with his son to hear him out. He had been even more surprised to get to know that Dan had been trying magic under the tutoring of his uncles… and he had been practically dumbfounded when the eight-year old child looked into his eyes with the maturity of a fifteen-year-old and asked: "Why can't I do the charms as well as Lily, Kevin, Val and Viv? Even Lancelot is better than me."

Harry, who had been exercising the duties of a father for nine years then, had found himself not knowing what to answer his son. He didn't want to lie to him, so he discussed it with Ginny and they decided to tell their son about his being born without magic and getting powers through Harry's wish.

Daniel seemed to take it quite well. "I guess I should be happy to have magic powers at all… I could as well have none. A bit of it is better than nothing." he replied with the same maturity that had surprised Harry so much.

Four years had passed since then, and Daniel didn't seem to be unhappy about his not-so-perfect abilities. He carried on getting illegal magic lessons from his uncles and with his diligence, he was succeeding, after all. 'But will that be enough at Hogwarts?' – Harry wondered. He feared that his son would be much like Neville Longbottom and become a laughing stock… especially for the Slytherins.

He heaved a sigh, hoping that it wouldn't be harder for Daniel than it had been for him. At least he'd have Kevin, Viv and Val around him as a loving family, and he'd surely make new friends as well.

Lily, after all, had lots of friends. Her best friend, for example, happened to be the third-year Circe Diggory. Circe was the only solace of the Diggorys, born four years after they had lost their son, Cedric. 

Harry had been very happy when he got to know that Amos and his wife had had a second child, and he had been even happier when Lily had made friends with her. Somehow he felt a bit of relief – relief from the disturbing thought of having caused Cedric's death. After all those years, he still hadn't managed to come to terms with this. It was – and always would be – a wound that never really healed… there were too many wounds on Harry's heart and soul, and many of them seemed to be resistant to healing. All Harry could do was ignore them and in family circle he managed to do so most of the time.

He bent down to pick up Hedwig's cage – the old owl hooted in a friendly way. The train had already left the station. Harry shielded his eyes with his free hand to see the last visible wisps of smoke emitted by the steam engine.

The weather was wonderful, the sun was shining brightly – not many times was the weather on 1st September so favouring. Harry took it as a good sign – as a sign of something beautiful.

A new beginning.

* * * * *

As Harry apparated at Hogsmeade, in the garden of a pretty thatched house, three forms swooped down on him.

"Uncle Harry! Uncle Harry!" Valentine, Viviane and their younger brother, Rupert, got off their broomsticks and fell upon him, hugging him enthusiastically.

"Kids, kids, you're stifling me!" Harry laughed, eyeing his nieces and nephew. The girls resembled Hermione a lot, with the exception of their hair-colour – they both had flaming red hair. Young Rupert, however, was a spitting image of Ron, only with Hermione's bushy brown hair. 

"Oh, we don't want to stifle Uncle Harry, do we?" Valentine winked at her twin. 

"Not yet." Viviane shook her head. "First we'll see his teaching methods, then we'll consider to stifle him or not."

"Children, why are you threatening your poor uncle?" Hermione exited the house with a wide smile. She had put on some weight during the past decade and was now a bit pudgy, but with her always-laughing face she looked downright endearing that way. According to Ron she was even prettier than she used to be and now there was more to 'grope' on her.

"We're not threatening him, mum," Viv shook her head. "We didn't scare you, Uncle Harry, did we?"

"No, you did not," Harry laughed and, leaning closer to Hermione, whispered: "But the prospect of having to teach them does scare me."

"Oh, you're going to be a great teacher, Harry," his sister-in-law replied. "Come in, I've just baked cookies."

"Cookies!" Rupert exclaimed. 

"No, children, you don't get any now or you won't eat that delicious spinach I'm cooking for lunch," Hermione said. "Go and carry on flying, especially you two." she pointed at Viv and Val. "You won't have any opportunity to do so for a whole school-year, you know."

"Ohhhh, that stupid rule!" Viviane sighed. "Really, Hogwarts rules are so old-fashioned, they should be reformed! First years should be allowed a broomstick!"

"I agree," Harry nodded, entering the kitchen. Hermione quickly ushered the children out and sat down next to him at the table.

"Now tell me what's bothering you."

"Bothering me?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Not much… just the fear of screwing it up."

Hermione reached out to pat his hand. "I was also nervous when I started teaching at Hogwarts, but it's not a big deal, really. If Lockhart could do it, then you can definitely do it."

"Awww, thanks Hermione, I feel a _lot better." he grimaced, making her grin._

"I meant it, Harry," she continued. "All you need is two things: first – to be able to treat children. That you have, being father to six. Second: to be good at Charms. You have that, too, professor Flitwick was always satisfied with you."

"It was still _you who first managed to make the feather fly," he smiled. "Swish and flick… gosh, it seems to have happened a lifetime ago!"_

"A lifetime?" she giggled. "Don't say that, Harry, or you make me feel old!"

"It might sound silly, Herm, but sometimes I do feel old," he sighed.

"It's just because you have experienced more in your thirty years of life than others at the age of eighty."

"Thirty-one," he corrected her.

"Ah, Harry!" she shook her head. "You're impossible! Don't remind me of being thirty-one already!"

"You aren't – yet," he grinned. "You'll be – in eighteen days."

"Good that you remember when my birthday is. Ron has a knack of forgetting it." 

"Good old Ron… is he down in the shop?"

"Yeah, of course, among his precious broomsticks, as always." she nodded. "Go and visit him."

"I will, but first I want to hear about everything that has happened around here lately," he said, taking a cookie. "Hm, delicious. Poor kids, having to eat spinach first… Really, Herm, have you heard any news that I should know before entering good old Hogwarts again? Just to be prepared, you know."

"Oh, there are things, Harry, but Dumbledore asked me and all the teachers to keep them a secret until tonight."

"I'm also a teacher," he reminded her.

"Not yet," she pointed out, looking at the clock on the wall. "In seven hours and twenty-three minutes, Harry."

He raised an eyebrow.

"In seven hours and twenty-three minutes Dumbledore will introduce you to the kids as the new Charms teacher, along with…" 

"With?"

"I haven't said anything," she shook her head, her eyes glinting impishly. 

"C'mon, Herm, I'll get to know it soon, why can't you tell me now?"

"Exactly because you'll get to know it soon," she retorted. "Here, eat one more cookie."

"There'll be another new teacher, huh?" Harry forced, hoping to get her to reveal something.

"Two," she shrugged. 

"Okay, then at least tell me: is it a positive or a negative change?"

"You'll decide it yourself," she grinned.

"You're impossible, Hermione, do you know that?" he rolled his eyes.

"I do. Ron keeps telling me that every day," she cast a glance out the window to see whether her children were still in one piece. 

"They're damn good broomstick-riders," Harry perceived, seeing the twin girls and their brother criss-cross the sky out there. 

"Yes, they are… still, I always fear that one day they'll fall and break their necks!" she sighed. "But I cannot forbid them to fly… they're Weasleys, after all! They'd die if they couldn't fly… I wish at least Aberforth would stop taking them for sled-rides all the time!"

"What?" Harry blinked. "Aberforth still has his sled?"

"Of course he does," Hermione sighed. "He uses it with invisibility charms and the kids simply love it!"

"Can any of them actually _drive the sled?" Harry asked, still vividly remembering his first attempt to control Aberforth's reindeers._

"No, of course not. But they enjoy just sitting in the sleigh. And you know how much Aberforth likes the kids…"

"Shame that he and McGonagall met at such a late age and couldn't have children," he said. "At least I'm happy that Hagrid and Olympe still managed to have one."

"Really, how is 'little' Titania doing?" Hermione laughed. Hagrid had moved to France with his wife and they had a ten-year old daughter, who would start at Beauxbatons next year.

"Oh, Titi is doing wonderful," Harry replied. "Already taller than me. I still remember when we once visited the 'little' family in France, right after Titi was born…"

"…and you were asked to baby-sit her for a while," Hermione giggled. 

"I couldn't find the nappies and finally had to wrap her into the tablecloth, because I couldn't find any other cloth big enough," he nodded, smiling at the memories. "I'm a bit sad that Hagrid left."

"Me too," she replied. "But Aberforth is just as good a Care of Magical Creatures teacher as he was."

"Really, how are the Dumbledore brothers getting along? No other goat-incidents, I hope."

"No, of course none," Hermione replied. "However… Albus never misses any opportunity to remind his brother that he is still the headmaster while Aberforth is just a teacher… but Aberforth doesn't really care, he's enjoying himself a lot and the students love his classes."

"There aren't any skrewts in his classes, are there?" Harry asked hopefully. "Lily is starting Care of Magical Creatures this year and I wouldn't be happy if a 'pet' of Aberforth's had her for lunch."

"Well, I wouldn't say that Aberforth doesn't prefer dangerous creatures… just remember the yeti, but he isn't as obsessed with them as Hagrid was."

"Glad to hear. And what about good old Snape? Lily told me he was still nasty… though not exactly to her, but in general."

"Ah, he's bitterer than ever. Even the Slytherins have started to hate Potions, and that is saying something."

Harry grimaced. "I can imagine that. Poor Dan, I suppose Snape won't really like him, him being my son. Truth be told I was afraid that Snape would be downright nasty to Lily as well, but he wasn't… I just don't understand why," he shrugged. 

"What is Lily's other new subject?" Hermione asked.

"Arithmancy, of course. I persuaded her _not to start Divination."_

"Good, I'm going to teach her, then," she smiled. "But don't expect me to favour her or anything!"

"Oh, I'd never expect anything like that from you, Herm. I know you well enough," Harry stood up. "Okay, I'm going to visit Ron now. Thanks for the cookies, they're excellent."

"Minerva's recipe," she replied. "She always bakes something nice for her hubby on weekends. You have no idea how much she has changed since she got married."

"Is she cheerful by any chance?" he raised an eyebrow. Hermione nodded. "Wow, I can't wait to get to know this new McGonagall, then." 

As Harry walked down the main street of Hogsmeade to Ron's broomstick shop, he couldn't stop gaping at the elegant new buildings that had been built in the last few years. Hogsmeade wasn't the same old wizard village Harry had known when he was a Hogwarts student. 

Besides Honeydukes, Gladrags and Dervish & Banges a dozen of new shops had been opened: there was a florists' shop (ran by Bill's wife, Fleur), a shop selling wizard electronics – mostly radios (besides Wizard Wireless Network four other radio stations had started operating, broadcasting wizard music), there was a beauty salon – one 'link' in Gilderoy Lockhart's franchise chain - and there was…

"A bank?" Harry blinked in surprise. There wasn't supposed to be other wizard banks besides Gringotts – and still, this one was here. It looked like a small version of a Greek pantheon, and on its façade you could read the words… _Malfoy & Malfoy._

Harry groaned. "No, not that!"

"Not what?" a highly familiar voice spoke up behind his back.

He turned around to see a smugly grinning Draco Malfoy with his hands in the pocket of his elegant robes – looking just like a banker.

"What is this supposed to be?" Harry asked.

"Good morning to you, too, Potter," Draco said sarcastically. "What is _what supposed to be?"_

"This whole thing. The bank. I thought that Gringotts was the only one."

"Up till now. But recently I had this nice little family bank built and in a couple of days it is going to start operating. Don't worry, I'm not going to convince you to keep your money at my bank."

"I'd rather ask a fox to watch over my geese," Harry frowned. "I thought that your family wasn't this rich anymore."

"Oh, true, we were quite poor for a while… then last year our good old French uncle Jean-Luc Malfoy passed away and we inherited everything. Of course the goblins at Gringotts aren't too happy about the competition, but who cares? The wizarding population of Hogsmeade is delighted to have a local bank – it's rather convenient for them, because they don't need to go to London every time they need a bit of money."

"You'll be working with higher interest rates than Gringotts, I presume," Harry said.

"Of course. Even the poor bankers have to earn something for a living." Malfoy shrugged.

"Oh, the _poor bankers!" Harry grimaced. "By the way, are you running the bank together with your father?"_

"No, just me. Dad only gave some capital of his part of the heritage… he's not going to visit the bank too often, so I'm the boss here."

"Poor Hogsmeade residents," Harry sighed, looking at a shop (still being built) opposite the bank. "And what is that one over there?"

"That?" Draco shrugged. "Some fast food restaurant, but it's still far from being opened."

"Fast food, eh? Poor Madame Rosmerta, she's also going to have competition, then."

"And how much!" Malfoy grinned. "Rosmerta's place is still cosy and everything, but the world is developing and the youngsters prefer fast food restaurants to the traditional ones. This one is going to be quite modern, as I see... not to mention that its owner is much prettier than the old Rosmerta."

"Why? Who is it?" Harry asked.

"An old acquaintance of yours, Potter," Malfoy pointed at the opening door of the half-ready fast food restaurant.

"Cho!" Harry breathed, seeing who had just exited.

"Yeah, Ms. Chang. Still darn sexy, isn't she?"

Harry had to admit that his old love looked wonderful, and this thought made him feel rather embarrassed. He wanted to get out of sight, but it was too late – Cho had noticed him and started waving frantically.

"Off you go, Potter! Have fun!" Malfoy smirked and returned into his bank.

Harry walked up to the woman.

"Hello, Cho."

"Hi, Harry. Nice to see you again."

"Yeah, nice." he smiled, feeling that he was turning red. *Damn you, Potter, why are you still blushing when she smiles at you? Fifteen years haven't been enough to forget her?*

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Oh, of course," he nodded. "So, you're starting a McRice at Hogsmeade as well?"

"Yes. This is the hundredth McRice shop in the world – and I guess the last one. I simply wanted to build one in Hogsmeade as well – it is a small niche market, given _The Three Broomsticks, but I hope it'll turn out to be profitable."_

"I'm sure it will be successful."

"Have you eaten at a McRice yet, Harry?" she kept chatting.

"Well, yeah. Quite many times. I like the cuisine there… though after a while you get bored with rice."

"How very true!" she laughed. "And which McRice did you like the most?"

"The one in the wizarding part of Orlando."

"You have been to the States?" she asked enthusiastically. "Wonderful! I've been living there for years! Which places have you seen?"

"Oh, just Florida. Ginny and I spent our seventh wedding anniversary there."

"Oh…" Cho's face fell. "I never knew you got married."

"I did. And you?"

"No," she shook her head. "But I have a daughter. She's coming to Hogwarts this year. This was the reason why we came back from the States… I wanted her to come to Hogwarts. Her name was down at a wizard school in Arizona, but it wasn't hard to arrange that she'd be accepted here." a dreamy expression fell over her face. "I loved being a Hogwarts student and I wanted her to be just as happy as I used to be here… I have been to so many places, travelled all around the world, still… this was practically the only place where I was always happy… with the exception of Cedric's death."

Harry instinctively reached out and squeezed her hand.

"It's okay, Harry." she gave him a grateful smile. "It happened long ago."

"And… has your daughter's father also come to Great Britain?"

"Ross? Oh, no!" she waved. "That stupid git doesn't even know that he has a child. It was just a fling and I didn't want anything from him. Never even loved him… And you? Do you have children?"

"Six," he grinned.

"Six? Wow, you must be a busy daddy, then!"

"Yeah, that's true. But I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I love kids… that is partly why I took on to teach at Hogwarts."

"What? You're going to be a teacher?" she clasped her hands. "What are you going to teach?"

"Charms."

"Oh, wonderful, Harry! Then you are going to teach my daughter as well! At least she's going to have one good teacher."

"I'm not sure I'm going to be such a good teacher. This is my first year and I have no idea how to do it."

It was Cho's turn to squeeze his hand. "You are going to be great, Harry. I trust you. If only my daughter had only such nice teachers like you…" 

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that's out of the question. Snape's still here." 

After having finished chatting with Cho, Harry continued his way down the street, chastising himself for having turned pink in her presence. He wasn't feeling anything for her anymore, after all. *But why did I have to blush, then?* he kicked into a rock irritably. That was when he realised where he was standing: right before Honeydukes.

However, this time its shop-window wasn't filled with chocolate frogs, fizzing whizzbees and liquorice wands – it was empty, with a sign FOR SALE plastered to the windowpane.

Harry felt his heart sink. The best place – the very best place - in Hogsmeade had been closed. *Wonder how Ron takes this, knowing his immense liking for sweets…*

Walking down the main street of the wizard village, Harry was surprised to see a tiny, old woman, sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of a house, waving madly at him.

"Mrs. Figg?"

"Yes, dear son, it's me!" the old witch nodded, beckoning him to herself.

"Good morning, Mrs. Figg. Excuse me, but may I ask what you are doing here?"

"Running the local pension, Harry boy," Arabella smiled at him, stroking a pair of kitties that were lying in her lap.

"Pension?" Harry blinked. "Wow, Hogsmeade has changed more than I expected. A bank, a fast food restaurant, a pension, Honeydukes closed… what's next? A swimming pool? I barely recognise this village anymore."

"Yes…" the old witch nodded with a wistful smile. "The winds of change have swept through Hogsmeade as well. The world changes… change cannot be stopped. I also realised that when a huge shopping mall was built next to my old house in Privet drive. That was when I decided to leave Little Whinging for good."

"Speaking of Little Whining… how are my uncle and aunt doing?"

"Oh… when I last saw them they were fine. Grunnings is running well, so I heard. Mr. Dursley managed to sell a huge amount of drills to the company that built the shopping mall."

"I wasn't interested in their financial state when I asked how they were doing," Harry said. "I mean… are they all right?"

A little smile appeared on Arabella's wrinkled face. "Yes… more or less. They are just… lonely. Dudley and his wife keep visiting them, but that's not the same. I heard Petunia bought a parrot to have someone to talk to while Vernon's at his workplace."

"A parrot?" he grinned. "Aunt Petunia used to hate animals. All kinds of animals."

"As I have said already, Harry," Mrs. Figg gave him a penetrating stare, "times change.  Everything and everyone changes."

Harry nodded, not feeling too happy about it at all. Changes… changes made him crave for the old times when this village had been the nicest place in Scotland. Changes simply made him feel old – at least older than he would have liked. But, if he compared himself to the ancient Mrs. Figg, he felt silly about having such thoughts at all. 

"Well, I've got to go and visit my friend, Ron. Good-bye, Mrs. Figg."

"Good-bye, Harry boy!" she smiled at him.

Soon he arrived in front of a tiny shop whose shop-window was full of broomsticks.

He found his brother-in-law behind the counter, deeply immersed in repairing the twigs of a worn-looking _Nimbus 2001. _

"Hullo, Ron."

Ron looked up and a wide grin spread on his face. "Hi, Harry! Or should I say Professor Potter?"

"Come on, Ron," Harry laughed, shaking hands with his best friend. "It will be bad enough to hear my nephews, nieces and own children calling me professor… but what can I do? It's in the house rules of Hogwarts, that in class even my own kids have to call me professor… Guess who I've run into?"

"Who?"

"Cho."

"Chang?"

"Yeah. She's starting a McRice fast food restaurant here."

"Oh, so that fancy shop opposite the bank will be hers?"

"Aha. By the way… how came that you never mentioned this Malfoy bank to me?"

"Ah, that…" Ron grimaced. "Hermione thought we shouldn't make you nervous… we knew that you'd get to know it sooner or later... but we thought it was better if you got to know it later. Hey, want a chocolate frog?" he changed the topic, not really feeling like talking about Malfoy. "It's from the last stocks of Honeydukes."

Harry took the frog as Ron also opened one. "Why did Honeydukes close?"

Ron shrugged. "Dunno. I guess the owners have grown way too old and decided to enjoy their old days on the Bahamas… they have earned enough money during the last decades, after all."

"But couldn't they just hire some shop-assistants?" Harry asked, munching on his frog. "Ptolemy," he looked at the card. "You aren't still collecting these, are you?"

"No," Ron laughed. "But my son is."

"So are my triplets. What card do you have?"

"Uh, let's see…" Ron turned over his card. "Hehe… a Harry Potter card."

"A what?"

"See it for yourself, mate."

Harry took the card to see the script on it.

_HARRY  POTTER_

_Also known as The Boy Who Lived. He defeated You-Know-Who at the age of one (that was when he received his famous lightning-shaped scar), continued battling him over and over, until he and his wife Virginia managed to get rid of You-Know-Who for good in 1998. Until recently Mr. Potter has been a well-known Seeker of Puddlemere United._

"Since when do I have an own card?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "This thing must be new, given that I only left Puddlemere three months ago."

"I don't know," Ron shrugged. "But I'd be quite proud if I had an own card, you know, so stop frowning, will ya?"

"I wasn't frowning… I was just surprised."

"Surprised by your own fame? Come on, Harry, don't tell me that you still haven't been able to get used to it!"

Harry shook his head. "I managed to get used to it, but I've never enjoyed it, you know that as well as I do. Types like Lockhart would surely enjoy it, but not me…"

"Speaking of Lockhart, I heard that he and his wife have returned to England," Ron said. Gilderoy and Sunny had spent the last eleven years travelling, opening Gilderoy Lockhart's Beauty Salons all over the world.

"Have they?" Harry asked. "And?"

"Remember, mate… when they left, Sunny was pregnant. That was about eleven years ago. Guess who's coming to Hogwarts, then?"

"A Lockhart child?" Harry groaned. This was too much for him. Having to deal with his own kids, Ron and Hermione's wild twins, the insufferable know-it-all Lancelot, Kevin – who was worse than Fred and George put together - and now a Lockhart as well...

Well… one thing was clear for Harry: he wasn't going to be bored during the upcoming school year.

**A/N**: well, that was long enough, wasn't it? I hope so :)

Latin: _Fucus amoveo_ means 'to remove the make-up' (at least I think so. I don't speak Latin, I only used a dictionary).

I thought it'd be a great help for you if I wrote a list of the children coming up in this fic, so here it is (thanks to Laurel Hoffman for the idea of making a list):

Harry - Ginny:  
- Lily  
- Daniel  
- Robert  
- Richard  
- Rose   
- Lea (I named her after my mum and mum found it very touching! Lea in Latin means a female lion, quite appropriate for a Potter child, huh? :)  
  
Ron - Herm:  
- Viviane  
- Valentine  
- Rupert (I guess I don't need to explain this choice of name :)  
  
Fred/George - Angelina:  
- Kevin (I simply LOVE Home alone and Kevin McAllister! :)  
  
Percy - Penny:  
- Lancelot (+ Percival Galahad is the whole name)  
  
Hagrid - Olympe:  
- Titania (comes from 'titanic' – and of course from Shakespeare :)  
  
Gilderoy - Anck-sun-Amun:  
- Gilda (the first four letters of her name are the same as that of Gilderoy, and I thought that Gildy would be stuck-up enough the give his daughter a name resembling his own :)  
  
Oliver Wood - ? (the woman's name isn't important):  
- Christopher  
  
Cho Chang - a guy who isn't important:  
- Liu

Bill – Fleur:

- Yvette  
  
Neville - Mary Sue:  
- Evelyn (she won't be important, just mentioned that she exists)  
  
Dudley - Millicent:  
- David 

- Daisy (she won't be important, just mentioned that she exists)  
  
Marcus Flint - Blaize Zabini:  
- Lavinia 

Amos Diggory – his wife:

- Circe (not particularly important)

+ Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy

There will be one more important female student, but I'm not yet telling her name – let it be a surprise until next chapter.

And now, to your reviews:

_AmandaPanda:_ you're my first reviewer! :))

_jennaration:_ I'm happy that you were excited when you saw the message in your inbox :)

_charleepotter_: I also hope that it's going to be good :) I did everything in my power to make this be interesting. At first I had serious misgivings about writing a next generation fic, I thought I wouldn't be able to, but now I think it's better than the first two. 

_Moony Lover_: I'm glad that you liked the diary.

_Mistri:_ you too envy Irma? Quite many people seem to envy her :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: I'm NOT going to resurrect the founders, I'll be just talking about them. Things they had done a millennium ago will have an impact on today's characters' lives. Btw, Abu won't be important, I just put him into the fic because you said you loved monkeys :)

_Lady Schezar_: thanks :)

_Laurel Hoffman:_ you're welcome.

_LilGinny_: certainly I haven't forgotten your penname! :) Was the concert good?

_SiriDragon_: thanks a lot, I'm glad you liked it.

_The One and Only Amazing Typo_: you're flattering me! :)

_Firewulf:_ whew, I thought you were angry with me because of the constructive criticism I gave you in my last mail. I'm glad that you aren't mad at me! It's such a relief, really! I saw that you have updated and read the last chapter – I'm delighted to see that you took my advice on the chapter :)

_Alyssa_: thanks.

_NuttyBuddy_: not many build-up chapters, don't worry. From the Halloween chapters (chapter 11 and 12) the story will be (I think so) very interesting. According to my betas the first 10 chapters are interesting too, but aren't that action-packed, because they are build-ups. Anyway, I do hope that none of my readers will be bored with this story. I haven't read the book you mentioned, sorry. 

_aurora riddle_: you're glad that the fic is pure evil? LOL! Hopefully I won't get too many bad remarks, but in case I will, I won't let them get me down, I promise :))  

_Katie Bell_: sorry, but Helga won't be mentioned too often  - Godric will be the most important from all the founders.

_goldenstar555_: I'm glad I managed to make you happy.

_Rose_: thanks for reviewing. 

_Colibi_: in the next chapter you are going to get to know what that parchment was.

_Black Ice_: in _Quidditch Through the Ages_ Rowling writes that the first broomstick that could fly was made in 962 A.D., so in 1011 people could already fly on them.

_baybee_: I hope it will be fun later as well… when it will be dark…

_CandyGurl83_: no, no map. Have I brightened your day? :))

_Myr Halcyon:_ we could probably found a Bookworm's Society, then :)

_Lady Python_: bloody brilliant? Thanks. I love that quote from HP movie 1.

_PrincezzShortie_: yes, mum is really intelligent – it runs in the family ;-)

_rebkos_: yeah, poor books…  
_Nefertiri:_ I'm glad you liked the wizard tournament, then you'll surely like chapter 24… why? We'll you'll see… 

_Bucky_: was it nice in Spain? Which places did you see?

_Aimee_: yes, you will find out about the Rowena/Godric/Salazar love triangle, but you'll have to wait a bit for it (till chapter 13, to be exact).

_Harrysgirl:_ yes, 'readers beware'! :)) You are VERY CLOSE to the truth about the document!  
_Sabby_: yes, the Mummy does rule :)

_Altec_: thanks.

_Jeanine23Dr:_ CoS comes to Hungary on 5th December, but I don't yet have a ticket – hopefully I'll get one as soon as the cinemas will be selling tickets for it in advance. I want to see it on the first day! When does the movie come to The Dominican Republic? Some time in December like here? I think I should be happy, because last year we had to wait 4 weeks after the British/American release, now we only have to wait 3 weeks (but it's still too much).

_Lavendar Brown_: you will understand, right in the next chapter.

_Alexander Phoenix_: yeah, it's the beginning of the end… but let's not formulate it in such a sad way, shall we? 

_2Coolio_: thanks for reviewing.

_C-chan:_ I have good news for you: I've read Ella Enchanted and loved it! I started reading it in the afternoon and finished it at midnight – simply couldn't put the book down. Thanks for suggesting to read it! Lucinda rulez! :)))) (she is kind of a female Lockhart :)

_star queen_: The Greatest Trilogy Ever – I'm blushing! Thanks a lot! I don't know anything about Italy's witches, but it's strange to hear that there are witches even nowadays. 

_Ice Kitten_: you wrote: "For this story I'm going to review more." Well, it'd be nice! :)

_Puck:_ yes, I got your last reviews.

_Dauphin_: are you sure that I'm NOT going to do something drastic to Daniel? Don't be sure. The trilogy as a whole doesn't have a name – does it need one? I don't think so.

_romina_: how many people in your class read my story? I'm curious!

_Toby Haine_: I was amazed, almost shocked to see your name on the review list of TGSaWCS, chapter 39. Somehow I thought that something really, really bad had happened to you and you were in no condition to even go online… I'm happy that you're fine and here again. Considering your 'faith', you are gravely mistaken, my friend – you had written 16 reviews for the second story, and then for the 39th chapter as well, so 17 all in all. I knew you had abandoned me, but I decided to put everyone with at least 15 reviews on the most faithful list, so I couldn't be unfair and not put you on it. I'm glad that you intend to write for every chapter of this story! And I'd gladly read that story of yours.

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: my Muses send their kisses back to you :)

_Kit Cloudkicker_: thanks, I hope it will be interesting.  
_PadmeSkywalker_: I'm glad you think so :)

_Wood's secret lover_: the 'extremely dark' part will only come near the end, so for a while the characters are safe. But yes, there will be deaths in this story, and not only that of the evil character(s). I have to admit that I was bawling like a little child when I wrote those deaths, and my mum also cried when she read them – we are so damn sensitive, I hate being so sensitive :( You'll find out about the parchment in the next chapter.

_Indigo Ziona_: I'm glad you like the idea of using the founders.

_Any last requests_: good luck with your exams!

_WolfEyes:_ I envy you so much, I'll have to wait for another 3 weeks to see the HP2 movie :(

_Incubo Artistico_: I'm sorry that you didn't like it. There won't be too much like reading a story in a story, I promise. There will be a long letter later, but that will be the only such thing.

_PepsiAngel_: I'm happy that you are happy.

_Sapron:_ I agree with you about Madame Pince.

_thebiggesthpfan_: I think I have answered your question about Harry being Charms professor in this chapter, haven't I?

_me_: I guess this was a record to get a flame for the very first chapter. I feel special. But thanks for your sincerity, it's always appreciated. I hope you liked this chapter a bit more than the first.

_zzxm:_ the movie comes out here on 5th December – a long wait :(( I agree that movie one wasn't that brilliant, but I liked it all the same. I'm sure that the second one will be better. Yes, I also heard that Ginny would be important in book five – and I hope NOT because she is the one whom Rowling kills off! I think it's going to be Hagrid and I hope that Harry will start to have feelings for Ginny in book five. It's high time for him :)

_Missy:_ I hope I was quick enough for you with the update :)

_Melee:_ thanks.

_Steph_: I'm glad you didn't think that chapter one was boring. Other people unfortunately did.

_GinnyPotter387_: you weren't the only one who thought that SS meant Severus Snape:)

_Princess Ginny_: you asked how I came up with the idea of the diary. Well, truth be told I was already writing the 7th or 8th chapter, thinking that the story needed a 'frame' to be placed into, and then I got some interesting idea, and for that idea the diary was needed, so I wrote the prologue after I wrote chapter 8.

_Belle_: thank you very much. It's always delighting for me to know that even adults like my stories (I thought you had to be an adult if you had a boss :)

_Waldomier:_ thanks, I'm glad that I won't be losing you :)

_RedHot911_: I hope it will really be interesting :)

_Tempral Bouncer_: thanks for reviewing!

_Lana Riddle_: thanks.

_K. C. Hunter_: yes, life is funny. Which story was the one you were looking for on my faves list? Btw, you wrote that you couldn't really see Helga with dark hair. Well, have a look at my founder pic on www.gryffindortower.net, you'll see how I imagined her.

_Blondie in Disguise_: thanks :)

_apple-pie_: I'm glad you liked it :)

_Teri_: :):):)

_Jing_: oh, my, I envy you, especially your friend Catherine! I'd like to meet J.K. once! *sigh* dream on, Agi…

_The-Girl-Who-Lived_: you wrote: "I was going to not start reading the story until it was finished for the sake of being able to fall asleep at night." LOL, I cannot guarantee you that you'll have good nights' sleeps around chapters 27-29… those are evil :)

_Sky_: I'll read your fic as soon as possible. No, no fourth story, at least not in this story-line. I might write something totally different that has nothing to do with this plot. Actually I have an idea for a H/G fic, but I'm not going to start it for a while, because I'm still correcting this one.

_Akuma-sama_: yes, Slytherin does rock. The Warnerbros site kept putting me into Gryffindor for a while, but last time I finally managed to get into Slytherin and I was so happy! :) If you like Slytherin, you are going to be happy with this story.

_ACloudhoppingElf:_ yes, evilness makes the stories much more interesting. If it is so, then this fic will be very interesting :) I'm happy that you liked my plots so much :)

_twinkle-toes:_ I think I have answered your question in this chapter. 


	3. Nasty surprises

A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, people! Anyway, Agi is green with envy, knowing that many of you have already seen the movie… Chapter 3 Nasty surprises 

Daniel and Kevin were looking out the window of the Hogwarts Express, watching as the train left King's Cross and soon got out of London. They were just about to start Exploding Snap when a boy with dark hair and grey eyes entered their compartment.

"Hi, uh, don't you mind if I sit down here? Everywhere else is full."

Kevin and Dan shrugged.

"Thanks," the newcomer dropped his luggage on the seat next to Kevin and sat down. "I'm Norbert, by the way. Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Daniel coughed. "Are you a son of Draco Malfoy?"

"No. His brother," Norbert smiled at them. "And, who are you?"

"Daniel Potter." Dan replied, suspiciously eyeing the other boy. His father had told him a lot about his childhood adversary… and that was enough for Daniel to not trust anyone who had Malfoy blood running in their veins. 

"Kevin Weasley," Kevin said, munching a chocolate frog, not too happy himself about having to travel in the same compartment with a Malfoy. His fathers had told him more than enough of that family, after all. "So Norbert is your name, eh? I heard that your father was fond of dragons, but I didn't know he liked them _this much."_

"Excuse me?" young Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"He doesn't know," Daniel waved. 

"What?" Norbert asked.

"The former groundskeeper of Hogwarts used to have a dragon called Norbert… though only for a couple of weeks," Kevin replied. "You surely don't know the former groundskeeper, do you?"

"Hagrid? Not in person, but I heard about him," Norbert shrugged. "Father told me lots of things about Hogwarts."

"I bet he did," Kevin made a wry face. "First of all he taught you how to lick professor Snape's boots, right?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," young Malfoy said with a cold smile, looking around. "I see you both have owls."

"No, these aren't owls, they're blast ended skrewts going to the masquerade," Kevin said. "And the monkey isn't a monkey but a bewitched princess who turns back if you kiss her. Care to try?"

"Kevin," Daniel gave his cousin a reproachful look. "He's a Malfoy, but that doesn't mean…"

"…that I'm as evil as all the Malfoys?" Norbert finished the sentence. "Thanks, Daniel. I'm going to prove that I'm not that bad," he added with a wink. "Anyway, I don't have an owl. I have a raven," he pulled a black cover off a cage he had brought. "He's called Ivo, and he's just as good in carrying letters as owls. Or better."

"Typical Malfoy. Already bragging," Kevin sighed. Daniel kicked him in the ankle.

"So… are you expecting to be in Slytherin?" Dan asked Norbert.

"Probably. But I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw, either. And you? Surely Gryffindor, huh?"

"We are hoping for that, of course," Daniel nodded. "Potters and Weasleys have always been in Gryffindor. As Malfoys have always been in Slytherin."

"You don't need to call me Malfoy," Norbert commented. "I'm rather using Devilsmoor. My mother's maiden name. My brother Draco will inherit Malfoy Manor and I'll inherit Devilsmoor Manor, so I prefer this name."

"As you want, Devilsmoor," Kevin folded his arms. "Another frog, Dan?"

"Thanks," young Potter opened the small box, but as soon as it was opened, the frog jumped out of it.

"Catch it!" Kevin yelled.

Daniel started jumping, but he was way too small to reach the frog that was just about to leave the train through the window.

"_Petrificus totalus!" came a voice and the frog froze on the windowpane._

Kevin and Daniel turned around to see Norbert holding a wand in his outstretched hand. "You can have it now, if you don't mind that it's not moving when you're chewing it."

"Er… not at all. Thanks," Daniel pulled the frog off the window. "Would you like the half of it?" he offered, breaking the frog into two parts.

"Why not?" Norbert grinned, taking the half of the chocolate. Daniel smiled back.

Kevin was just about to comment something when a girl appeared in the doorframe.

"Have you been doing magic?" she asked with clear interest.

"No, what makes you think that?" Kevin frowned.

"I saw a flash of light coming out of this compartment. You _were doing magic!" she reasoned. She didn't seem to be a bossy type like aunt Hermione, she was rather sweet and exotic with jet-black hair and brown eyes that gave the boys the impression of her being Asian or partly Asian._

"And what if we were?" Norbert raised an eyebrow. "It's not illegal, is it?"

"No," she sat down before either of the boys could tell her that she wasn't welcome here. "I'm Liu-Ling Chang. But you may call me simply Liu."

"Great," Kevin grimaced. He didn't think much of girls – they annoyed him all the time. The only girls he liked were Viviane and Valentine, because they never behaved like girls.

"I'm Norbert Devilsmoor," young Malfoy introduced himself. "And they are…"

"I can speak for myself, Malfoy!" Kevin interrupted. "I'm Kevin Weasley."

"Pleasure," she turned to the third boy. "And you?"

"D…daniel." Dan stammered, feeling something warm in his stomach. 

"Daniel what?" Liu asked with a smile.

Daniel felt that little warmth in his stomach start to spread in his whole body. He had not thought much of girls, either – for him girls had just been people he could tease and laugh at. Up till now.  Now that this exotic angel was smiling at him, he suddenly forgot that he was supposed to give her a nasty reply or send her to hell as he used to when talking to his sister Lily. "P…potter," he stuttered.

"Ah, you must be Harry Potter's son, then!" she clasped her hands. "Wonderful! My mother told me so much of your father! They were good friends back at Hogwarts… I hope we will also be good friends, Daniel," with that she stood up and walked out.

"I also hope so!" Daniel shouted after her, but the door had already closed.

"Uh-oh… Dannie has a crush!" Kevin smirked.

Daniel scowled at him, then turned to Norbert, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. "So, how did you know that spell? It's quite an advanced one, isn't it? You need to study at least one whole year before you can perform that… so I heard."

"Ah, well… I've had a bit of pre-school education," Norbert shrugged, pocketing his wand.

"Your father taught you dark arts, eh?" Kevin said.

"Of course not!" Norbert snapped. "Why would he?"

"Because he's a death-eater, that's why!"

"He's still better than your father… _fathers… really, which one is your real father? Does your mother know at all?"_

"Shut up!" Kevin turned ruby red. He had already heard too many people insulting his family about their two-father-family-model. "My fathers are at least trustworthy, not like yours!"

"Trustworthy?" Norbert laughed. "Two clowns running a joke shop?"

"They're running a joke shop, earning their living in an honest way, but your father is everything but honest! I've heard enough of him to know him well! Your whole family!" Kevin spat. "All of you are rotten to your very cores!"

"Kevin!" Daniel shouted at his cousin.

"Take that back!" Norbert yelled, his grey eyes sparkling with fury.

"No way, you filthy Malfoy!"

That was too much for Norbert – he punched Kevin in the nose, who gave him a kick in the shin in return.

"Stop!" Daniel tried to jerk his cousin back from Malfoy, to no avail.

Suddenly the door burst open and a skinny, brown-haired boy ran in, pulling the fighters apart, giving them each a black eye in the process. Daniel decided to help him – only to get a punch in the jaw. He fell back onto the seat, seeing stars while massaging his sore jaw. When the stars finally vanished, he looked up to see the brown-haired boy standing between Kevin and Norbert, holding them back from continuing fighting. He was panting, so were young Weasley and Malfoy.

"Sorry," the unknown boy told Daniel. "I didn't want to hit you, it was an accident. I only wanted to stop them. Fighting on the train… really," he gave both boys a chastising look. "Now be good boys and shake hands."

"With him?" Kevin snorted. "Never."

"I won't, either," Norbert replied. "And who do you think you are to tell us what to do, eh?"

"I'm the one who can beat you up if you make me," the brown-haired boy replied. "Alright, don't shake hands, but don't dare fight or I'll be back!" with that he left the compartment.

The two enemies gaped at the closing door, then looked at each other again. Norbert's mouth tucked into a smirk and Kevin couldn't help grinning, either.

"Not a bad scrap, eh?" he asked.

"Not bad," Norbert nodded. "But we need a bit of training so that next time we beat him up, not the other way around. What do you think?"

"All right," Kevin nodded. "Want a bit of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Malfoy?"

"Devilsmoor. If you don't want to call me Norbert, then use Devilsmoor."

"Malfoy's shorter," young Weasley grinned, chewing a bean. "Urgghhh… cod-liver oil!"

* * * * *

When they had eaten all packages of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans and every single chocolate frog, Lancelot Weasley put in an appearance. He looked rather angry about something.

"Hey, what's up, Lance, why are you this sour?" Daniel asked, seeing his wry face.

"Lance_lot," the newcomer corrected him, adjusting his glasses with that sort of dignity that only Percy had possessed in the family – until his son was born. Lancelot was a short, very thin boy with strawberry blonde hair and the firm belief that he knew everything better than others. Percy couldn't have denied being Lancelot's father, even if he wanted. "I heard that you were fighting."  _

"Wasn't me," Daniel said. "They did it," he pointed at Kevin and Norbert.

"Kevin, really!" Lancelot scowled at him. "Why do you always have to look for trouble? Honestly, you are turning out to be more and more like Uncle Fred and George!"

"I'd rather resemble them than Uncle Percy," Kevin grinned.

"Just to inform you, cousin, my father is head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, while yours are running a joke shop. My father might become Minister for Magic, while yours will keep turning themselves into canaries. You can easily tell which father is the better."

"Yeah, easily," Kevin nodded. "Mine."

"Have it your way, but don't forget what I said when I'll be the son of the Minister for Magic!" Lancelot straightened his back to look taller.

"It will be a sad day for Great Britain's wizarding community when your father becomes Minister," Norbert commented. "Just to inform you, my father has much more of a chance to get that post than yours."

"Why?" Lancelot furrowed his brow. "Who's your father?"

"Lucius Malfoy," Norbert smirked. "I'm Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy."

"A…are you?" Lancelot blinked in a worried way. "Uh, okay… You'd better change into robes. We're almost there."

As he left the compartment, Norbert gave Daniel a sour look. "How can you endure this guy in the family?"

"Not well," Kevin shrugged. "But we have to."

* * * * *

Professor Dumbledore was eyeing Lucius Malfoy with interest. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Lucius?"

"Well, Albus… it's about my son."

"Draco?"

"No, Norbert," Malfoy replied. "He's coming here as a first year."

"Indeed?" Albus raised an eyebrow, his blue eyes twinkling with eternal youth, even at the age of 170.

"Yes," Lucius nodded. "And the problem is that Narcissa and I have to travel abroad for several months… a secret Ministry business. We mustn't even keep in touch with our son, it's such a top-secret mission… but of course I trust you enough to tell you about it. Well, you know that Norbert came very late in our lives, thus we appreciate him more than anything… we couldn't bear if something happened to him while we're away."

Dumbledore looked surprised to hear a Malfoy talking like a loving father. 

Lucius carried on: "Since we are going to be so far from him without any kind of contact, we cannot be sure that he's all right… thus I'd like to ask you to keep an eye on him, Albus. I don't ask you to favour him or anything… just take care of him for us, will you?"

"Of course I will do everything in my power, Lucius, but…" Dumbledore looked contemplative for a moment, "I thought that your other son, Draco, has just opened a family bank at Hogsmeade. Can't you trust him with his younger brother?"

"Well… it's hard for me to talk about this, but… my sons can't stand each other. I don't know why… Draco never recognised Norbert as his brother. I guess he's miffed that the family heritage will be divided into two parts. Norbert won't have anyone here to rely on," Malfoy looked downright desperate. "Keep an eye on him, Albus. Please."

"All right," the old headmaster smiled when suddenly professor McGonagall burst into the office.

"Albus! The first years are drowning!"

"What?" Albus jumped up.

"The boats… they're sinking!" Minerva shouted. 

"Come!" the headmaster said and hurried out of the office, with McGonagall in tow, leaving the appalled Lucius behind.

* * * * *

All the available teachers were already down by the lake, stopping the still floating boats from sinking and rescuing the students whose boats had already sunk. About the half of all the boats had started to submerge into the lake, for apparently no reason.

"Damn these boats!" Aberforth Dumbledore cursed, stumbling onto the shore, soaking wet. After Hagrid had left, it had become Aberforth's task to guide the first-years through the lake.

He wrung his beard and helped a trembling blonde girl out of the water. The little one looked scared to death.

Daniel, Kevin and Norbert had been sitting in the same boat along with the pretty Liu Chang. Dan hadn't been able to take his eyes off her until he felt something cold engulf him. He had been surprised, because on the train he felt warm in Liu's presence – why did he feel cold now?

Then he saw it – so did the other three occupants of the boat: water started flowing in and they started to sink.

However, it was obvious that their boat wasn't the only one sinking, because soon terrified screams filled the air and a mad splashing of water could be heard.

Now that they were out of the lake, Daniel felt rather sorry that it had happened this way: his father had told him about his own first journey across the lake – how he, Ron, Hermione and Neville had caught a glimpse of the majestic castle of Hogwarts, the sight filling them with eternal joy and still making them petrified with awe.

Daniel and the other first-years didn't even have a chance to marvel at the castle's beauty, because they had to fight for their very lives.

"Are you okay?" he asked Liu, tossing his dripping locks out of his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks," she nodded, giving him a heart-melting smile. And Daniel's heart did melt.

"Well, everyone escaped with nothing worse than a good fright," Albus smiled at Minerva, flicking his wand, pointing it at the soaked children.

In the next second, everyone's clothes were dry again.

"I only wonder how all these boats could go wrong… at the same time?" McGonagall said, frowning.

"Good question," Albus shrugged. 

"The wood-worms have multiplied significantly over the summer," Aberforth interjected. "I've been trying to exterminate them for months… they might be the reason – they can chew millions of little holes into the wood – holes that are invisible at first sight… but the water could come through them." 

"Oh, yeah… that sounds credible," Albus nodded. "But next time you take the first-years across the lake, Aberforth, check the boats," he told his brother with a hint of reproach and left for the castle.

* * * * *

Harry arrived at the castle shortly after Dumbledore and the other teachers had pulled the first years out of the lake. While the firsties were waiting outside the Entrance Hall, all teachers took place at the staff table – all but four. There were four empty seats, two of which would surely be occupied by the headmaster and Hermione, but Harry wondered who would occupy the remaining two – surely the mysterious new teachers Hermione had referred to.

Harry was glad to see Remus again – the ex-werewolf was still teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. He had got married ten years earlier and had an eight-year-old son, James – named after his late friend, which Harry found rather touching. 

Harry was surprised to hear that the headmaster had allowed the Lupins (Remus and Stella Sinistra Lupin) to live in the castle with their child. On the other hand, even teachers had to have spouses and children, didn't they? It was just a bit weird for Harry, who had never known a teacher to have a family while he was a Hogwarts student. 

For a moment he played with the thought of his wife and all six children living at Hogwarts, but then he pictured the triplets skinning Mrs. Norris and felt thankful that he could keep Rose, Richard and Robert away from the school for another year. After that… come what may.

While he was happy about having a chance to chat with Remus, who was his neighbour at the table, he was rather miffed by the fact that his other neighbour was none other than Sybill Trelawney. He wondered why that stupid old fraud hadn't retired or been sacked yet.

Lupin filled Harry in on the boat-incident. "Aberforth says it was the wood-worms, but you know, I'm not sure. There are certain dark arts that can bring about things like this…"

"Who would want to drown the firsties?" Harry shook his head in disbelief.

"No idea. Let's hope that it was just the wood-worms," replied Remus. While he told Harry about his exciting holiday in Peru last summer, Harry drank a cup of tea that had been served for the teachers before the evening feast. When Remus was just going into details about a mad Inca demon attacking his wife, Harry heard a yelp.

He turned right to see Sybill holding his cup with an ashen face. 

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Trelawney didn't answer, just put down Harry's cup with a shaking hand.

"Professor Trelawney, are you all right?" he repeated.

"Oh my, dear… this is not a happy cup… I see shock after shock, grief after grief and at the end… danger… terrible, lethal danger…" she mumbled, her eyes fixed on the teacup.

"Really?" Harry picked up the cup, examining the remainder of tealeaves in there, annoyed that the house-elves hadn't filtered it properly. "Have you seen the Grim again? What do you see, Remus?" he showed the cup to the other teacher.

"Um… let's see… a rabbit?"

"Well…" Harry looked at the tealeaves again. "For me it seems to be a camel. Or a plane? I don't know," he put it down with a shrug. Stupid Divination.

Suddenly he felt a hand grip his arm.

"Keep… your eyes open… Harry Potter," Sybill said with a trembling voice, releasing his arm.

"I will," he grimaced, relieved to see that Albus Dumbledore had just entered the Great Hall.

* * * * *

"Wow, not bad, not bad!" Kevin said admiringly as professor McGonagall led them into the Entrance Hall, then left them to wait until the teachers were ready for them.

"Yeah, beautiful," Daniel nodded, his eyes hungrily taking in the sight of dozens of glinting armours, several huge, moving paintings and candles hovering all around near the walls. "Really cool. Don't you think, Liu?"

"Huh?" the girl asked.

"The castle. Nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah, very nice," she replied with a sweet smile. "What is it, Kevin?" she asked suddenly, seeing the boy hide behind Norbert's back.

"That guy," Kevin pointed at a boy with brown hair. The same boy who had beaten them up in the train compartment.

"You aren't going to be a Gryffindor this way, Kevin," Daniel perceived, though he didn't feel too brave either, after having sighted the aggressive boy again. The aggressive boy, however, didn't care about them at all.

"Even Gryffindors can be afraid… sometimes," Kevin replied, slowly coming out from behind Norbert's back. "Remember what we have been told about Neville Longbottom."

"True," Dan nodded. "I hope I'm going to be in Gryffindor. I can't imagine what I'd do if I turned out to be a Hufflepuff… utter shame. Or worse… a Slytherin."

"Even Syltherins aren't that bad," Norbert cut in.

"No, not all of them… just 99%," Dan grinned. "I guess I'd kill myself if I got sorted into that house."

Norbert gave him an amused look.

"I am going to be a Ravenclaw," Lancelot interjected.

"No one asked you," Kevin folded his arms.

"I'm still going to be a Ravenclaw, because I'm the wittiest boy in the family," Percy's son drew himself up.

"Get lost, Weasel," Norbert turned to him, making him cringe.

"All right, all right," Lancelot adjusted his glasses and took several steps backwards.

Suddenly a bunch of ghosts appeared with loud whooshing. The little blonde girl, who had been fished out of the lake by Aberforth, got so scared that she almost fainted.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" a pudgy ghost, looking like a friar, laughed. "You there!" he pointed at Daniel, who gulped.

"Yes?" he asked with a shaking voice. He had never talked to a ghost before.

"Don't you think that Hufflepuff is that bad, young fellow!" the Fat Friar said. "I also used to be a Hufflepuff, and look what I've become!"

"No way is Daniel going to be like him!" Kevin smirked. "Friars have to be celibate!"  

Daniel turned red and Norbert laughed heartily, casting sideways glances at Liu Chang.

"That must be the Bloody Baron!" the 'aggressive' boy exclaimed with excitement, pointing at a sullen-looking ghost hovering at the other end of the Entrance Hall.

"Typical," Kevin snorted. "Guys like this only like ghosts that have the word 'bloody' in their names!"

"I just hope this guy doesn't get into the same house as you, Kevin," Dan commented. "Though… I don't want him be in the same house with me, as well."

"Woohoo! Hello, firsties!" Headless Nick swooped down on them, throwing his head up in the air, then catching it and twirling it on the tip of his index finger.

"Hello, Nick," Daniel and Kevin greeted him. They had been told about the Gryffindor ghost by their parents.

"You are Harry Potter's son, right?" Nick flashed him with a wide grin. "Harry couldn't even deny being your father, you look so alike him! Oh, the good old times when your father came to celebrate my 500th Deathday!" he sighed. "And then… when he fought with Ron Weasley who separated my head from my neck! Wonderful memories, my friends, wonderful memories!"

"Are you a happy ghost now, Nick?" asked Dan.

"The happiest, thanks to your father and uncle!" Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington nodded gleefully – as much as he could nod with his head and neck totally severed. "I'm the new leader of the Headless Hunt! Just got elected!" he drew himself up proudly, pointing at a shining badge on his silvery coat, just below his ruff. Although the ruff had served as a means of hiding his partly severed neck for centuries, he couldn't bring himself to part with it after Ron had properly decapitated him. Or maybe ghosts didn't even have other clothes than those that they had died in…

"Congrats," Kevin grinned.

"Ah, you're the son of the Weasley twins, aren't you?" Nick clasped his hands. "I truly liked your fathers, kid. It made me always happy to see how they drove Filchie crazy!"

"Really, how is Filch doing nowadays? And his terrible old cat?" Kevin asked, remembering having been told not to get on the wrong side of the caretaker.

"Oooooh… that's a surprise, kiddies!" Nick laughed and disappeared.

"Surprise?" Dan grimaced. "What kind of surprise?"

"Maybe Filch got a new cat," Norbert shrugged. "Or married the old one."

"No, he definitely didn't," came a familiar voice from behind their backs.

"Aunt Hermione!"

"Hello, dears," Hermione smiled at them. "I've just brought your cousins."

Viviane and Valentine scowled at their mother. "We didn't need to be brought here, mum. We knew the route from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. Really. We are no children anymore."

"No children?" their mother raised an eyebrow. "Then prove it to me and keep out of trouble. This concerns you, too," she looked at Daniel and Kevin.

"Mum, why do you always think that we could get into trouble?" Valentine crossed her arms.

"Because you are Weasleys," Hermione smiled at them. "Now be good children and promise me that you won't start a food fight during the feast!"

"You're no fun, mum," Viviane pouted. "But we promise."

* * * * *

Harry was relieved to see Hermione arrive – he hoped that she would take his mind off Sybill's stupid predictions. 

"Hi, Harry," she said, sitting down next to Trelawney.

"Hi, Herm. Brought the twins?" Harry asked over Sybill's head, as if the Divination professor wasn't there at all.

"Aye," Hermione smiled. "And made them swear to keep out of trouble. I made your son and Kevin promise the same."

"It won't be easy for them, Herm," he replied. "They are our children, thus they not only carry our rebellious genes, but they also believe that they have to… live up to our reputation. And that's why they're going to be troublemakers," at these words Sybill made a rather sour expression and suggested that Hermione and she should change places. So they did.

"Would you mind if they were like that?" Hermione asked Harry. "If they turned out to be troublemakers?"

"Well… I remember the day when Dan was born and Fred and George swore to turn him into the greatest mischief-maker Hogwarts had ever seen… that day I didn't mind it at all… I felt downright proud. But today… the prospect of my son getting into such troubles as I did simply gives me the creeps."

"He won't get into such troubles, Harry. You-Know-Who is long gone and no one is endangering Daniel's life. The only way he could be harmed is if Snape poisoned him," seeing the horrified expression on Harry's face, Hermione started to giggle. "Just kidding, Harry. Snape's still terrible, but he wouldn't do that to a child… not even if it's yours."

"Good to hear," he grinned, while Trelawney made an even more sour face. "So, will you finally tell me who the new staff-members are?"

"Albus is going to tell in person… in a couple of minutes."

Harry was just about to reply something when the door of the Great Hall opened to admit the first years.

As they lined up before the staff table, Albus Dumbledore rose to speak.

"Let me greet everyone on this wonderful evening! A new school year is going to start tomorrow, and I hope that all of you will enjoy it… the teachers will do everything in their power to make you grow to like Hogwarts and consider it as your second home."

"Like Snape would do anything to make us like it..." Daniel whispered into Kevin's ear, who nodded, grinning.

The headmaster carried on: "Before I share some pleasant news with you, let me remind you all that the Forbidden Forest next to the castle is forbidden, as always. And now, to the first part of the pleasant news: from this year on everyone is allowed to have an own broomstick – even the first years, who, of course, may also get into the Quidditch teams of their houses!"

Happy yells and fervent clapping followed his words – especially from the first years.

"The next thing you have to know: four new people have joined the staff this year. I am pleased to inform you that you will have Harry Potter as your new Charms professor."

Excited squeals could be heard from everywhere.

"My father!" Lily Potter told her Gryffindor mates proudly, flushing a bit.

"The second new teacher is…" Albus looked around. "Well… he hasn't arrived yet, maybe his broomstick is malfunctioning… well, anyway, he is going to be your new Flying professor and Quidditch referee… Neville Longbottom!"

"Neville?" Harry almost fell off his chair. "Hah! So that's why you didn't tell me, Hermione!"

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise," she grinned.

"Awww… just look at Snape," Harry chuckled, fearing that some of his ribs had broken from the suppressed laughter. "Neville is going to be his colleague! He'll have to be… _polite to him!"_

Hermione giggled into her cup of tea, imagining Snape being 'polite' to Neville.

"Our third addition to the stuff isn't totally new, he has already spent a year teaching here, however this year he is going to teach a new subject: P. E." Dumbledore looked around, seeing the surprise on the children's faces. "Well, it might surprise you that we have decided to include Physical Education into the curriculum, but trust me that it was a wise decision. Up till now there has been no other opportunity for sports than Quidditch, and people who were left out of the teams - about nine hundred students – haven't had any type of physical education. The staff has come to the conclusion that everyone needs a bit of movement, at least once a week. So… you are going to have P. E. lessons with…"

At that moment the door of the Great Hall burst open to admit none other than Gilderoy Lockhart, who was wearing one of his very lilac robes and a sexy little lopsided wizard hat of a slightly lighter shade of violet.

"Hello, everyone, I hope I'm not late!" he waved, approaching the staff table.

"…Professor Lockhart," Dumbledore finished his sentence.

"No!" Harry slapped his forehead. "Albus must be joking!"

"He isn't," Hermione replied, eyeing the still very good-looking Lockhart with in a dreamy sort of way. 

Before elegantly taking place on Aberforth's left, Gilderoy greeted Harry with one of his flashy smiles.

As the murmur of the children died away, the headmaster continued his speech:

"And the fourth new person to our ranks is Bert Bradley, the new caretaker!" he pointed at a small guy with a young, boyish face, sitting at the very end of the table. Harry hadn't even noticed him before.

"What? Filch's no longer here?" Harry was appalled.

"No," Hermione shook her head, while students began throwing their pointed wizard hats into the air to express their utter joy of not seeing Argus Filch anymore. "Mrs. Norris died this summer and he broke down. Some say he also went crazy. You know, he was practically in love with that cat. And not just for an hour," she winked at him.

"Don't even remind me of that, Hermione!" Harry groaned, still vividly remembering his infatuation with Mrs. Norris – due to an Attraction Potion he was forced to drink. "I thought I'd never live it down…" he sighed, watching as McGonagall carried the Sorting Hat into the hall.

"And now to the most important part of my little speech tonight:" the headmaster carried on, "believe it or not, this summer, while tidying the library, our Madame Pince happened to find the foundation document of our school – a document that was supposed to be lost or destroyed long ago. Up till now we have lived in the firm belief that Hogwarts was _around one__ thousand years old. Now, thanks to Madame Pince and the document she found, we know that Hogwarts is __exactly one thousand years old – this year."_

A loud murmur ran down the hall.

"Yes, the foundation document dates Halloween of 1011. According to Salazar Slytherin's diary – also found by our librarian - the foundation stone of Hogwarts was laid by the Hogwarts Four at Halloween… and the castle was ready by the 1st May of the next year. Thus…" Albus' mouth tucked into a grin, "We have a good reason to celebrate. In order to celebrate our school's thousandth birthday, we are going to have a series of festivities here at Hogwarts throughout the school year."

Cheering and excited yelping followed his words.

"Please, let me continue," the headmaster waved with his hand to silence the crowd. "Thank you. As I have already said, the foundation of our school is connected to two dates: Halloween and 1st May. Thus, we are going to have a special Halloween festivity and another – even more special one - at the beginning of May. Tonight I'm not going to go into details, because I presume all of you are already dying of hunger. I only ask you to wait for another twenty or so minutes for the sorting ceremony to end. Minerva, the Hat, please." 

Sybill Trelawney clutched at her heart with a small yelp.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, pretending to be worried.

"The hat… the hat…" Sybill mumbled.

"A vision, Sybill?" Hermione asked, pouring a glass of water and thrusting it into Trelawney's hand.

The Divination teacher nodded. Harry shrugged and gave his sister-in-law a 'don't-take-her-seriously'-stare, which Hermione answered with a 'don't-worry-I-never-took-her-seriously'-stare.

Minerva turned to the first years. "I'm going to call your names and put this hat on your heads. It will tell you which house you will be in… But of course only after the annual Sorting Hat song."

She stepped back to give the students a good view of the hat that suddenly came to life and began to sing:

_The day has come, you're standing here,_

_nervous, giddy, even trembling,_

_but I tell there's nothing to fear_

_as long as you hear me rambling._

_You think I'm a silly old hat,_

_chatting without taking action?_

_Hah! I'm the best cap you could get_

_to do the Hogwarts selection!_

_Gryffindor's the place for the brave,_

_so if you never hesitate_

_when there is a life you can save,_

_Gryffindor's where you'll fit in, mate!_

_If you like generosity,_

_find justice the greatest value,_

_for sufferers you feel pity,_

_you're a Hufflepuff, I tell you!_

_If you are a lil know-it-all,_

_if you have a quick working mind,_

_if you have more brains than a troll,_

_then the Ravenclaws are your kind!_

_If your ways are slyness and stealth,_

_if you're witty, cunning indeed,_

_if you want fame, power and wealth,_

_you're the one the Slytherins need!_

_You're curious where you belong?_

_Which house to greet with hello?_

_Telling your place won't take me long,_

_just put me on your head, fellow!_

As the song ended, everyone clapped politely.

"So, the Ravenclaws have to have more brains than a troll?" Kevin smirked. "Then you have a chance to get in there, Lance!"

"Lance_lot," Percy's son replied defiantly._

McGonagall cleared her throat. "So, I'll be calling your names, you come here, sit on this three-legged stool and I'll put the hat on your head," she looked down at her list. "Atkinson, Rowan."

A tall boy with dreadlocks stepped forward, sat down and McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bailey, Nigel."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Chang, Liu-Ling."

"RAVENCLAW!"

Daniel applauded enthusiastically. "I've got to get into Ravenclaw! I've got to!"

"One minute ago you wanted to be in Gryffindor," Kevin reminded him.

"Oh, shut up!" Dan shot him a rather nasty look, following Liu with his stare. He simply couldn't keep his eyes off the girl who approached the Ravenclaw table and took place as gracefully as a ballet dancer.

"Dumbledore, Julia," Minerva read out.

As McGonagall uttered this name, the whole Great Hall went silent. 'Dumbledore?' Even Minerva herself looked surprised, adjusted her glasses, as if to make sure that she had read it properly.

There was no mistake – the name of Julia Dumbledore was written quite clearly on her list.

A little blond girl with an expression of a scared chipmunk scuttled forward and flopped down on the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the Sorting Hat shouted. The little girl took it off with a relieved smile and joined the table of her new house.

Aberforth gave his brother a bemused stare. "I never knew you had a great-grandchild, Albus," he said, taking a swig of his butterbeer.

"I don't," Albus replied. "You do."

Aberforth spit out his drink and started to cough so madly that he almost suffocated. Albus patted his back with a benign smile, while Minerva – who hadn't heard their discussion – carried on with the list.

"Flint, Lavinia."

A rather stuck-up looking girl came forward, sleeking her long hair with an elegant motion, sitting down on the stool as if it was a golden throne.

The Hat didn't contemplate her place too long, she was sent into Slytherin, and she looked rather pleased about it.

"That girl looks exactly like Blaise Zabini," Kevin remarked.

"Of course she does, she's her daughter… and that of Marcus Flint," Daniel made a disgusted face. "No wonder she got into _that house."_

"You still think that Slytherin is so terrible, don't you?" Norbert tutted. "Silly prejudice."

"Look who's talking. A future Slytherin," Kevin grimaced.

Meanwhile, McGonagall kept reading names and the Sorting Hat kept sorting people into houses.

"Lockhart, Gilda."

The 'aggressive' boy moved forward.

"Gilda??????" Kevin and Norbert gasped.

"He's a _she?" Daniel gaped, too. "With such a straight left?"_

The boy, however, turned out to be a girl, and – if they examined her better – they had to admit that there was something girlish in her features… but not too much. She had short hair and a body that didn't even slightly resemble that of a female.

Gilda Lockhart sat smugly on the stool, waiting for the hat's decision. Harry looked over at Gilderoy who was intently watching the girl – his daughter. Harry hadn't seen a daughter resemble her father so little before. She had brown hair – a mixture of Gilderoy's blonde and Anck-sun-Amun's black hair. Her eye-colour was the only thing that bore some resemblance to her father's.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted finally. 

"Oh, no!" Norbert sighed, while Harry looked at Gilderoy again – the new P. E. teacher didn't seem to be shocked by the hat's choice at all.

"Now, now, Devilsmoor, you wanna be a lil Gryffindor now that she's in Slytherin?" Kevin mocked.

"No way," young Malfoy straightened himself and walked forward, as Minerva called out his name.

The Sorting Hat barely touched his forehead when it shouted 'SLYTHERIN!'

"Told ya I'll be in there," Norbert told Daniel as he passed by them, to sit down at the table of his house.

"Nash, John!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Oleson, Nelly!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Parris, Tom!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Daniel!"

Daniel felt his heart clench.

"Hey, it's gonna be all right!" Kevin patted him on the back, seeing how pale his cousin was.

Daniel slowly walked up to the stool, sat down and the deputy headmistress placed the hat on his head.

Moments of silence followed… Harry, at the staff table, crossed his fingers…

"SLYTHERIN!"

**A/N:** well, this was something you COULD expect from me, wasn't it? I thought it'd be damn boring to put Dan into Gryffindor – this way it will be much more interesting, trust me :)

You might have realised that I was having a bit of fun with the names of the first-year students. Rowan Atkinson is a British comedian, Nigel Bailey is a character in Relic Hunter, John Nash was the schizophrenic genius in A Beautiful Mind, Nelly Oleson is from Little House on the Prairie, and Tom Parris comes from Star Trek Voyager. But certainly none of them will be of any importance in the story.

We all know that in the fourth book the Sorting Hat sings 'a thousand years or more ago', but let's assume that not even the hat knows when Hogwarts was founded – a thousand year ago, or more or less... Anyway, I don't think that the Hat knows exactly how old the school is, so let's just let Hogwarts celebrate its 1000th birthday in 2011, okay?

_Colibi_: you STILL have a good feeling about the story? *wicked grin*

_AmandaPanda _and_ jasper: _ about the Potters having more kids. Weeeeeeeell… who knows?

_AClodhoppingElf_: Lea in Hungarian (and I think in Latin, too) is pronounced a bit like Leia in Star Wars, just without the 'i'. So it's not really 'Lee-ah', the 'e' in there is pronounced as the 'e' in the word 'let'. 

_rebkos_: I wanted Harry to teach Charms, because he usually teaches DaDA or Flying in other fics. I wanted to do something new for a change.

_Anja:_ I hope you won't stop reading this time.

_Bucky:_ I don't like Cho either. You know that I don't.

_Nefertiri: _well, now you know who Norbert is, right? Anyway, he was mentioned in the final chapter of the second fic – Aberforth and Minerva saw the Hogwarts parchment book and Norbert's name in it on their wedding night. Sorry about the Hat's choice for Daniel… but I truly thought that placing him into Gryffindor would be way too cliché-like and boring. Most authors who write 'next generation' fics are not brave enough to put Harry's children into other house but Gryffindor. I screwed up my courage, though :)

_Black Ice_: well, obviously I did a sorting ceremony. Hope you liked it.

_lyny_: yes, the ending will be more or less happy. Not the usual 'exuberantly happy' ending, but kind of happy. Harry will go trough stuff that won't allow him to really celebrate at the end – I guess that he has never been through such terrible things as he will in this fic, so he won't feel like rejoicing. But I promise that the end will not be sad :) Yvette won't really have a role in the fic, but whenever I'll be referring to her, she will be a bit stuck-up. Sorry about that, I didn't meant to insult your grandma, since I had chosen to name her Yvette back at the beginning of TGSaWCS. In fact I knew an Yvette in the primary school, who was very stuck-up and I kind of described her as Yvette Weasley.

_spangle*star_: I hope you'll manage to keep track of the kids after a few chapters.

_rodhrrypttr_: I know I don't have to answer your review, but I still do. Sorry, but Dudley and Millicent won't have a role in this fic.

_SiriDragon_: I'm glad you like Lily.

_maureen_: the kid who was late for the train was Norbert. The triplets aren't named after people I know. About Honeydukes – wait and you'll see :)

_Lady Python:_ yeah, Lancelot's name is terrible, isn't it? I gave him this ridiculous name on purpose, of course :) Gilda's name comes from Verdi's Rigoletto – it's an Italian name as far as I know.

_Amaranta:_ you make me blush :)

_FairyBubbles:_ well, now you know what the document was.

_Princess Ginny_: no, I haven't heard of So you want to be a Wizard. Who wrote it? Yes, I got your mail, thanks.

_2Coolio_: I didn't mean it as a pat on the back, I was just happy that you reviewed :) 

_The-Girl-Who-Lived_: I also have a good memory for names. It can prove pretty useful :)

_Kristen Michelle_: yeah, hopefully I'll be uploading quite often. I'm glad you liked it.

_Bamboo Anime_: the kid who stared at him was Norbert. What? A tornado hit your school??? Do tell me about it! Btw, I like your new name better :)

_Toby Haine:_ yes, the last chapter was really my longest so far. However, it isn't the longest in this fic. 31 chapters all in all.

_Saphron_: no, I haven't heard Ode to Harry Potter, but it sounds fun. Could you write me the text in an email? I'd highly appreciate it :)

_romina:_ even your teacher was reading it? LOL :)

_Laurel Hoffman_: no idea what happened to Charlie, and sorry, but he won't even be mentioned in this fic. I am not a fan of his. Never been. Dunno why. Perhaps if Rowling lets us get to know him better, I'll grow to like him.

_Ice Kitten_: yes, we do get Eminem, but I don't like it. My little brother, however, does a lot.

_zzxm_: was it depressing? Hm… I never meant it to be depressing.

_Ronniekin's Sweetheart_: hi, Leah, you have a beautiful name! LOL, I adore my mother's name, because in Hungary it is so very rare and sounds interesting. Everyone says that she has a very peculiar name :) Read my answer to AClodhoffpingElf.

_Jen_: I'm glad that you are glad.

_Incubo Artistico_: I'm happy that you liked the last one better than the first one.

_K. C. Hunter_: I had a teacher in the primary school who told me that her kids had always called her Kate instead of mum. I thought it was cute. Oh, you also like The Devil's Deal? It's such a wonderful story! 

_sabby:_ I also like the idea of the Malfoy bank :)

_Katie Bell:_ no Katie in this fic. I have shamelessly neglected her, I know, sorry. Yeah, make-up is difficult. I remember myself at Lily's age – I was bungling up my make-up just like her and ended up crying that I'd never learn how to do it :))) So, the Lily in the last chapter was a bit like me :)

_RedHot911:_ Harry's first day as a teacher will be described in chapter 5, but rather from Daniel's point of view.

_Lily:_ what? You read only a few chapter of the first fic? Then how did you understand the second? Weird! I strongly advise you to read the whole first story, or at least chapters 30-33, or you won't understand certain parts of this fic.

_jennaration_: read my answer to AClodhoppingElf. 

_Mione2:_ Mary Sue won't even have a single line in this fic, so don't worry about me writing a 'Mary Sue'. It was just a pun to name Neville's wife that.

_aurora riddle_: yes, Oliver Wood's son is just as sexy as Ollie himself :) 

_Derkaun Zarion_: I don't know why ffnet shows the diary half in italics and half regular. I put the whole thing in italics, it must have been my computer's fault again. Yes, you are right about plague, the great disease was in the 1400's, but I thought that smaller cases might have cropped up earlier. You lost your 20 Galleons, there won't be anything about that 13-year-old girl. Sorry about making Dumbledore have a US niece, but I promise that she won't be as terrible as the usual "the girl who comes to Hogwarts from the USA". In fact you won't get to know her much, she was only needed to show changes in McGonagall's behaviour. You'll see. Yes, Titania was in Midsummer night's dream. Thanks for the Latin correction. 

_nicole:_ I'll update at least once a week, I promise.

_apple-pie_: don't worry about Honeydukes :)

_LilGinny:_ I hope you are feeling better and your little sister, too. Yes, the scrawny boy with the huge packages is important – he's Norbert. There's not much about Sirius and Rosie, they are kind of together, but living separately. I upload my chapters in HTML format, but sometimes it still turns italics back into regular letters, dunno why. But try html, maybe it will work for you.

_X-Tow-Naga_: see, the new professor wasn't Aaron or his wife. But you'll see him in a short scene later and he'll be revealing something... scary. About having to call Harry 'Professor Potter' – Hogwarts might have introduced a rule since Harry graduated, and now all teachers have to be addressed with due respect. Yes, I knew about McCauley Culkin's sad story (I'm not sure I wrote his name right). I haven't read Traitor from the NJO series. I'm done with reading SW, probably forever. I might read the book version of the third movie, but no more series books. I've had enough of them.

_Kit Clouckicker: _both your wishes will be granted. 

_Lady Schezar_: I hope it was a quick enough update :)

_Jeanine23Dr:_ sorry, no card for Ron, and no lawsuits from Harry. Well, let me make you a bit miserable, just like your cousin: I also have tickets for the first day, so probably I'll see it earlier than you will *wicked grin*.

_Lizzie:_ did I really write Little Whining? LOL! That's so funny! WHINING :))) Don't worry about being picky, I'm also picky towards other authors and driving them crazy pointing out all their little mistakes. So, feel free to be picky with me!

_Padme Skywalker_: hm… poor Harry? Why? In chapter two he wasn't that miserable, was he? Well, now he will be, given the Hat's choice, and later on he'll be even more miserable, but in chapter two he wasn't, really…

_Myr Halcyon_: you wrote: "with so many kids, how do you tell who knocked up whom?" LOL :)) I hope you'll be able to keep the kids' names in mind.

_Altec_: you have a kid? A boy or a girl?

_Wood's secret lover_: no, Oliver's wife isn't mentioned anywhere. You can have him if you want, as long as I can have Harry :))

_jopatura_: Ginny has Dinky the house elf to help her with taking care of the kids. Yes, I do have plans with Honeydukes.

_Puck:_ I do hope it's gonna be awesome :))

_star queen_: you won't really get to know Evelyn, she will just be mentioned. But you'll see a bit of Christopher Wood (though he also won't be a major character). What? You were HAPPY about seeing Cho? Everyone else hates her…

_WolfEyes_: Hogwarts must be in Scotland, because the trains that leave from King Cross always go to Scotland (Rowling said so in some interview), and Rowling also lives in Scotland, so we can be 100% sure that Hogwarts is in Scotland.

_NuttyBuddy_: yeah, I thought that it'd take people a while to read it through… get used to the thought that the average chapter length in this fic will be as long as this one.

_Alexander Phoenix _and_ Megan_: during eleven years a lot of things can change. I remember for example how certain parts of my own city (Budapest) looked like 11 years ago, and now it looks totally different. I supposed that Hogsmeade had to change, too.

_Aimee_: you wrote: "I wanna see just how bad the kids get." Lol, they'll get really bad :) "Do we get to find out why Snape's grown so bitter?" Well, I guess he's just getting older and more and more lonely. "…or why he doesn't treat Lily as bad as some people?" Well, you might find that out, though I won't state it so clearly, but there will be a hint – if you're clever enough, you'll realise :)

_Kestrel:_ I might right a novel, but not nowadays. Perhaps when I'm done with studying. Who knows?

_starheart_: are you the same as 'starheart20' on GTnet? If you are, then thanks for reviewing my fic there, too. I badly needed that review, I don't seem to be that popular on GTnet yet, and probably will never be. But as Dumbledore said wisely, one cannot hold out for universal popularity :)

_Apocalipsis once known as King Jasbon_: you wrote: "Is Harry ever mentioned in one of your stories as Heir of one of the Four Founders?" My answer: not yet. 

_Lana Riddle_: I will :)

_Waldomier:_ thanks for the grammar corrections. Keep telling me my mistakes, okay? :)

_Cyclo:_ why does Harry almost not know Lily? Well, when their kids turn adolescent, many parents think that they don't know them, because they start to behave so strangely and keep secrets from their parents.

_tarantula: _you posted your review around the same time I uploaded chapter two, so I couldn't thank you for reviewing chapter one. I'm doing it now – thanks. And no, you are NOT wrong, but sshhhh! It's a secret :))))

_Houou_ and _Rab:_ Flitwick ran Ravenclaw. I decided to make Professor Sinistra the new head of Ravenclaw. Harry has just started to teach at Hogwarts, it wouldn't be right to make him a head of house.

_Neus_: thanks for writing.

_White Raven_: you are the second reviewer who has my mum's name :)

_dipstick:_ there's no official name for the trilogy as a whole. But you may call it 'The Greatest Trilogy' if you want to :)

_goldenstar555_: I envy you, too. Another 16 days for me to see the movie :(

_CandyGurl83_: Harry is going to go home in chapter 6 and he'll be visiting his family regularly.

_Dauphin_: do you live in China? You might have mentioned it before, but I forgot. Is it really that cold in China now? In Hungary last week it was pleasantly warm, as though it had been September, not November. Allegedly in some gardens the violets started to bloom again, as though it had been April :)

_Missy_: thank you very much :)

_Sky_: perhaps the Gildy kid won't be that terrible at all… she's not at all the way you'd imagine her.

_Blondie in Disguise_: I'm glad you liked it :)

_The Millennium One:_ what? You really thought that TGSaWCS wasn't finished? LOL :)

_Cherie_: thanks a lot.

_jen:_ it won't be easy for prof Potter to deal with all the crazy youngsters :)

_seashell:_ yes, the story is written, but I'm still correcting it. I'm glad you liked the quote.

_Any last requests:_ yes, I made up that Hogwarts name derivation. Good luck with your exams!


	4. Family problems here, family problems th...

A/N: thanks for all the wonderful reviews! :) 

**Disclaimer:** the same as in chapter 1 + some lines in this chapter are quoted from 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' by J. K. Rowling.

This chapter is short (the second shortest in the whole fic) and bridge-like, it's mainly about people's reactions, so don't expect action. That comes later.

Chapter 4 Family problems here, family problems there 

It was already past midnight, everyone had long fallen asleep, but Harry couldn't close his eyes. He sat on the windowsill, gazing out into the clear, starry night, taking deep breaths of the cool and fragrant air. Down on the Hogwarts grounds hundreds of crickets were making a concert with the occasional hooting of the school owls as background music. The lake's surface glittered in the moonlight, as though thousands of fairies had been dancing on it with graceful, swaying movements. 

It was a beautiful, magical night; still Harry felt miserable. While nature was calmer than ever, his soul was in turmoil, a real thunderstorm raging in his heart.

He tried and tried to calm himself – to no avail.

His son had been sorted into Slytherin. _Slytherin!_

He simply couldn't believe it! Why, for heaven's sake? Daniel was a Potter, after all!

Harry clearly remembered the day of Daniel's birth… when he decided to give him a name suitable for a future Gryffindor: Daniel Leonard. Daniel for the Bible Daniel who had gone into the lion's pit and Leonard for its meaning: 'strong, like a lion'. 

He heaved a deep sigh.

What had gone wrong? What made the Sorting Hat put Dan into Slytherin?

'_Hm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?' the Hat's voice of twenty years earlier echoed in Harry's mind. '__Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness…'_

It's all there in your head… Harry frowned. '_You can speak Parseltongue, Harry, because Lord Voldemort -– who is the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin – can speak Parseltongue. Unless I'm much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar.' Dumbledore's words after the destruction of the Basilisk came to Harry's mind. __'Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?'_

Harry shook his head in disbelief. Could that be the reason? Did it mean that Daniel had inherited the piece of Voldemort that was in Harry? 

But if yes, then… why didn't Lily get into Slytherin? If Harry had a bit of the late Dark Lord in him, then so did Lily, Daniel and all of his children.

Still, Lily was in Gryffindor…

This was too much for Harry to comprehend, simply too much. He remembered the murmur that ran down the Great Hall when the Sorting Hat announced its decision:

"SLYTHERIN!"

Everyone in the Great Hall gasped. Daniel almost fell off the three-legged chair, then looked around with a haunted expression – just to see whether he had heard it all right. However, the looks on the others' faces showed that he _had heard it all right. He had been sorted into Slytherin._

He cast a nervous glance at his father, who seemed to have been petrified – he was sitting at the staff table with his mouth agape, his face as white as a sheet. Daniel simply couldn't bear his stare, so he looked at Kevin, who was standing a couple of feet away, looking equally perplexed.

"How could this happen?" Daniel mouthed to his cousin, who shook his auburn head with a really dull expression.

"Potter, move on!" McGonagall patted him on the shoulder, indicating that he was wasting their time.

"What?" Daniel looked up. He had been too shocked to interpret her words.

"Move to your table," Minerva said, pointing at the table on the right – the table of the Slytherin house.

Daniel nodded, then slowly stood up, took off the hat and headed for the table on the right, wondering what McGonagall's expression had meant: was it compassion? Or rather astonishment mixed with fright? He couldn't tell.

He just walked up to the Slytherin table, where Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy was already waving at him in a merry sort of way.

Daniel flopped down next to him, propping his chin into his palms, gazing at his golden plate.

"Daniel!" Norbert patted him on the back. "You're in Slytherin!"

Young Potter cast a sideways glance at his new housemate. "You look happy about it," he grumbled in an accusing manner.

"Well, of course I'm happy!" Norbert nodded cheerfully. "I've grown to like you on the train, Dan. You weren't as nasty to me as your cousin… you defended me, although you knew well enough that I was a Malfoy… that means that we could be friends."

"Friends?" Daniel blinked.

"Yeah. Why not?" the other boy replied. "Just imagine what our parents will say when they get to know that we are friends!" he added, laughing. "They'll explode with anger! Especially my dear brother! Hahaha! He'll go mad when he gets to know that my best friend is none other than Harry Potter's son!" 

Daniel grimaced at the thought of himself introducing Norbert to his father as his new best friend. What would Harry say?

His heart sank as he imagined what his father could be feeling now: disappointment, anger… utter horror. A Potter in Slytherin? That was the greatest shame he could think of… almost as great a shame as being a squib. He had been told by his parents about being born a squib then getting powers from the Magic Goldfish in Durmstrang's lake years ago. He regarded the story as a fairy tale – as something beautiful and incomprehensible. Now he wished he had stayed a squib forever… then he wouldn't be in Slytherin now.

Meanwhile, the sorting ceremony carried on, although in a totally different mood than before Daniel's sorting. The air was still vibrating with shock and amazement. Everyone wanted the ceremony to be over – and this time not to have dinner at last, but to have an opportunity to discuss the events that had recently taken place.

All the four Weasleys (Viviane, Valentine, Kevin and Lancelot) got sorted into Gryffindor – Lancelot protesting that he wanted to be in Ravenclaw. Finally Kevin decided to punch him in the nose to make him shut up. Professor McGonagall immediately took ten points from Gryffindor for fighting. Kevin couldn't be blamed, though – he wouldn't have punched Lancelot if Daniel hadn't been sorted into the rival house, which made Kevin feel frustrated and release his pent-up emotions on his most annoying cousin. So, for the very first time in Hogwarts' history, Gryffindor started the school year with minus ten points.

Lily was just as shocked as everyone else in the family. David Dursley, from Hufflepuff table, kept sending her encouraging glances, to no avail. She was so nervous that she couldn't even touch the delicious dinner, just stared at her father who – half an hour after the sorting – still looked shocked. She saw that Remus Lupin and Hermione were talking to him – clearly trying to calm him, but her father just kept shaking his head. Lily perceived that Harry hadn't touched his meal either. She didn't dare imagine what Ginny would say when she got to know about the Sorting Hat's decision. She'd surely faint.

Even Ron and Hermione's vivid twins were unusually silent over dinner – all they said was 'pass the salt-shaker'. To Lily, Kevin looked downright broken, bending his head on his arms, madly eyeing Daniel talking to Norbert at the other end of the hall. Lancelot was the only one who managed to find his voice:

"I have always told you that Daniel was a worth-nothing, haven't I? All he has been doing was to annoy people, so no wonder that he got into _that __house."_

"Shut up or Gryffindor will lose more points!" Kevin growled at him.

"Anyway, Daniel only annoyed _you, Lance," Valentine added. "I have always found him a nice boy with a good sense of humour."_

"Exactly," Viviane nodded. "No matter what house he is in, your brother is still a cool guy, Lils."

"Thanks," Lily forced herself to smile. "I truly don't understand why he got into Slytherin. I mean… he put a hedgehog into my bed, all right, but all boys of his age do such things to their big sisters… it doesn't mean that he's evil… he's just mischievous, but definitely not nasty enough to be a Slytherin."

"Are you sure? I for one would never put a hedgehog into anyone's bed," Lancelot straightened his back to start another tirade about Daniel's non-ethical behaviour, only to be kicked in the ankle by Viv.

Lily's stare suddenly fell at Professor Snape, who seemed to be rather interested in Daniel Potter all of a sudden. Lily shuddered. _Daniel was in Snape's house! This hadn't even occurred to her earlier! Her heart ached for her little brother, knowing the Potions teacher. Severus was quite unbearable as a professor, she didn't dare imagine how unbearable he could get as a head of house… and what power he would have over Daniel. Of course Snape was known to be favouring the Slytherin students, but wouldn't he make an exception with Harry Potter's son? _

Lily shook her head, deciding that she'd rather not imagine the future relationship between her brother and her less favourite professor.

After the opening-of-the-school-year-ceremony ended with all the students and teachers (the latter quite reluctantly) singing the Hogwarts anthem, everyone headed for their dormitories. While Kevin, Viv, Val and Lancelot entered the welcoming Gryffindor common room with its red and golden carpets and tapestries, Daniel Potter was guided down into the dungeons by none other than Professor Snape.

After several minutes of walking downstairs, the sleepy Slytherins paused before a damp stonewall.

"_Venenum velox!" said the head of house and a hidden stone door slid aside to reveal the Slytherin common room. _

Daniel, who had heard so much about the cosiness and warm colours of Gryffindor Tower, couldn't help pouting. This common room had rough stonewalls with a low ceiling from where round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. The only welcoming thing was the fire crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece.

Professor Snape led the students through a dark corridor that opened from the common room. At the end of the corridor there were two staircases leading even deeper into the bowels of Hogwarts. 

"Girls' dormitories on the right, boys' on the left. Off to bed, everyone!" the head of house said in a cold voice. 

Daniel watched Gilda Lockhart descend the steps to the right, looking rather cheerful. He simply couldn't understand what could make _anyone_ be happy about being in Slytherin.

"Potter, I said something!" he heard Snape's harsh voice. Shuddering, he looked up.

"Excuse me, professor?"

"You'd better pay attention when I'm talking, Potter!" Severus growled at him. "Stop loitering and go to sleep, tomorrow will be a rough day."

"Yes, professor," Daniel nodded, feeling like kicking something – especially Snape. 

As he started down the left staircase, he heard the teacher call after him:

"And try to stay out of trouble, Potter, for your own sake!"

*Why does he think that I'd get into trouble?* Dan sighed inwardly. *Just because I'm my father's son?*

"Hey, what is this pouting, Dan?" Norbert asked with a wide smile. "C'mon, I'm drowsy!"

Young Potter followed young Malfoy down the steps, into a corridor full of green doors on either side. Each door had a large, silver serpent on it – somehow the serpents seemed to be moving as the children walked past them.

With a heavy heart Daniel entered the room at the end of the corridor to see five four-poster beds with curtains of deep, green velvet and silver fringe. Several torches were lit all around the walls to provide a bit of light, since the dormitory had no windows. For a second Daniel felt like being buried alive in an underground chamber. It was not a happy thought.

His luggage had already been taken down into his room. The cage of Helena stood on the floor next to the bed. On the bedcover lay a green and grey striped scarf along with a tie of the same two colours. Daniel dropped himself on the bed with a resigned sigh when suddenly a monkey jumped on his shoulder.

"Abu!" he laughed – for the first time since he had been sorted into his new house. The monkey nestled its furry head onto Daniel's cheek, encircling his neck with its long and fluffy arms. The boy patted Abu gently, feeling grateful for his closeness and warmth. "Thanks," he muttered, peeling the monkey off himself, starting to undress.

While he had been sorrowing over the lack of windows and moonlight, Norbert had already changed into pyjamas and slipped under the soft green bedcover. His raven, Ivo, had been let out of his cage and perched himself on the boy's pillow.

The other three boys they shared the room with were giving Daniel curious glances, clearly not understanding what a Potter was doing in Slytherin.

"I'm Jerry Travers," one of them introduced himself. "You're the Potter boy, huh?"

"Er, yeah," Daniel nodded. "And you are…?" he turned to the two other boys.

"Donald Rookwood," a boy with a face of a fox replied. "And I don't understand how you got in here, Potter."

"Neither do I," the third boy commented. "I'm Iago Rosier, by the way."

"I don't understand it, either," Daniel shrugged. "I really don't. But do you think… that we could be friends?"

"Friends with a Potter?" Donald Rookwood snorted. "Your parents sent my grandpa into Azkaban! How could you expect me to be your friend?"

"Oh, shut up, Rookwood!" Jerry Travers snapped. "It's your grandpa's problem that he happened to be there at Stonehenge when Harry Potter's wife did away with You-Know-Who! He has only his own stupidity to thank that he got sent into Azkaban!"

"Ooooooh, look who's talking!" Donald spat. "Your uncle was also a death-eater, like my grandpa and like Rosier's grandfather!"

"…and like Malfoy's father!" Iago Rosier, an unusually blonde boy pointed at Norbert who was peacefully lying on his bed, caressing Ivo's black-feathered wings. 

"You are right, Rosier," Norbert replied calmly, "but my father was never caught."

"Of course he wasn't, because he was out cold at St. Mungo when that massacre at Stonehenge took place!" Rookwood reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, could be. Good for daddy that he had almost gone crazy by lord Voldemort's _Cruciatus curse," Norbert grinned._

"You have said the name!" Travers gaped.

"So what? Voldemort's dead!" young Malfoy shrugged. "And I'm not afraid to say the name of a dead guy."

"You are so lucky, Malfoy," Iago Rosier fumed. "My grandpa was killed by Mad-Eye Moody. All that makes me happy is that he had distorted Moody's nose before he died!"

"Yeah, the good old times when our ancestors were death-eaters…" sighed Rookwood.

Daniel cast a side-ways glance at Norbert and was surprised to see some kind of secretive smile on the boy's face.

"Okay, the Descendants of Death-Eaters Discussion is over, guys!" Norbert said. "How can you be so stupid to praise your death-eater ancestors in front of the son of Harry Potter?"

Jerry, Donald and Iago gave Daniel a piercing look before slipping under their green bedcovers.

"Don't take them seriously, Dan," Norbert whispered to his new friend. "They are rather unhappy about their ancestors being the Dark Lord's supporters. They are thoroughly ashamed of it… they just try to conceal it by blabbering about the 'good old times'. They don't mean it."

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked insecurely. "They did sound as though they had meant it. I fear I won't have many friends here in Slytherin."

"But you'll have me," Norbert winked at him. "Now drop off, Potty, we're starting with Potions tomorrow… at least I heard so."

Young Potter let out a groan and pulled up the covers. Abu nestled himself into the crook of his arm and Daniel held him like a stuffed toy. He decided to chase the bothering thoughts out of his mind… at least till next morning, when he would have to face Snape at Potions class. He took off his glasses, put them on the bedside table and closed his eyes, picturing the charming Liu Chang.

* * * * *

While Daniel sank into a deep slumber, Harry had made a decision: talk to Albus Dumbledore! He would know the answer for your questions!

He left his room – it was already one o'clock in the morning – and headed for the headmaster's office.

On his way he met Peeves, who had stolen a sack of peas from the kitchen and was spilling it on the floor so that people would slip on it first thing in the morning. When the poltergeist caught a glimpse of the approaching Harry, he started to cackle madly:

_"Potter, you rotter, you're a poor dad,_

_I weren't surprised if you'd go mad!_

_You were so proud of Daniel son,_

_But now your pride is forever gone!_

_Dannie's in Slytherin with the bad folk,_

_Just wait and he'll turn a nasty warlock!"_

"_Fiscella!" Harry pointed his wand at Peeves, performing the same muzzle charm Aberforth had performed on the poltergeist eleven years earlier._

"Mmmmhhhh!" Peeves protested, madly tugging at the muzzle that simply didn't want to come off.

Harry – in a bit better mood – continued his way upstairs, finally stopping by the stone gargoyle standing in front of Dumbledore's door.

"Er… liquorice wand?" he asked, wishing that he had asked Albus about the password the previous evening. "No? Then… Bertie… eh, no, he hates it. Let's see… fizzing whizzbees?" the gargoyle still didn't budge. Harry suddenly remembered Albus at Percy and Penelope's wedding, eating two slices of… "Treacle tart?"

The gargoyle came to life and sprang aside to reveal a spiral staircase moving like an escalator. Harry stepped onto it and let it take him up to the headmaster's room.

Before he could knock with the griffin-shaped brass knocker, he heard voices coming from inside:

"But why, Albus?" it was Aberforth's voice. "Why didn't you tell me that I had a son?"

"Because your ex-wife, Michele, asked me not to," Albus replied to his brother's irritated voice in a rather calm tone.

"But why didn't she want me to know?"

"Come on, Aberforth, don't pretend to have forgotten how bad terms you had been on with Michele! You were rather nasty to her, admit it… always going off with your worth-nothing buddies to pubs and going home drunk… of course Michele had enough and took divorce proceedings! As soon as she got free from you, she decided to go as far from you as possible…"

"…with my son in her belly?" Aberforth fumed.

"Yes," Albus replied. "She didn't tell you, because she _knew you. As well as I knew you, Aberforth."_

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon, brother… remember what you were like at the age of thirty… careless, obstinate, foolish… you were no father-material at all, admit it. If you make jokes by turning goats into women, then you are far from being mature, and you, brother, were _the farthest possible from being mature. I always wondered what Michele saw in you… you never treated her as a wife, rather as a playmate… she had enough and I totally understood her. So I kept my mouth shut about her being pregnant."_

"And… where… where did she go?"

"To America. She settled down in Seattle, brought up her son, Aberforth Jr…"

"Aberforth?" the old wizard's voice quivered. "She… she named our son after me?"

Albus was silent for a while. "You have no idea why, huh? Oh, brother… she loved you. She had enough of you, but she still loved you to the end of her life. She never got married again."

"To… to the end of her life? She's dead?"

"Yeah, she died about fifteen years ago. Your son sent me a letter telling about Michele's death. Unfortunately your son also died last year, but your grandson, Aberforth the third, moved to England with his wife and daughter, Julia."

"Julia…" Aberforth sniffed. "That weenie little blonde girl… I noticed her right away when she got off the Hogwarts Express… she looked so endearing… I… I can't explain it, Albus, but she made my heart melt at once."

"Well… it's understandable. She's your great-granddaughter."

"How… how should I tell this to Minerva?" Aberforth asked nervously. "She's going to be very angry when I tell her that I have already been married once… and I never told her…"

"That is your problem to settle, brother," Albus replied nonchalantly.

"Ah, great, thanks for your support, brother!" Aberforth growled and headed for the door, banging it open with a rather aggressive movement.

"Oh, hi, Aberforth," Harry grinned sheepishly, cringing a bit, seeing how infuriated the old wizard looked.

"Harry, boy!"

"Uh… I didn't want to eavesdrop, really, I just wanted to talk to Professor Dumbledore… I know it's really late, but…"

"Don't apologise, Harry, come in," Albus said.

"Thanks. Bye, Aberforth," Harry gave his old friend an encouraging smile, knowing that Aberforth must feel quite as shaken now as he did. Damn family problems.

* * * * *

"Have a seat, please," Albus pointed to the chair opposite his desk. Harry sat down, looking around. Nothing had changed here since he had been in here for the last time… when Albus had sent him back to the Dursleys because of the journalists' attack on Hogwarts. 

There were still small silver instruments whirring and making funny noises, there were the portraits of the previous headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts hanging on the walls, there was still a perch for Fawkes – who was sleeping peacefully -, there was still the glass case containing Gryffindor's sword… and of course the Sorting Hat.

Dumbledore saw Harry's glance pause on the hat.

"You have come to ask me why it has put your son into Slytherin," the headmaster said  - this was not a question, but a statement.

"Yes, professor," Harry nodded.

"Call me Albus, Harry. We are colleagues, after all," the old wizard smiled at him benignly. One of the one-time headmasters woke up in his frame to scrutinise the new addition to the Hogwarts staff.

"All right, Albus," Harry nodded. "You are right… I want to know… I need to know…"

"Then it is not I whom you have to ask, but him," Dumbledore pointed at the Sorting Hat.

"May I?"

"Sure… you have already worn it thrice, why not wear it for the fourth time?"

The young wizard walked up to the hat and placed it on his head with shaking hands. He had not been this nervous when he had asked the hat whether it had made a right decision to put him into Gryffindor.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the familiar little voice that didn't make him wait long.

"Meeting you again, Harry Potter?"

*Well, yeah. * Harry thought. *I need to ask you something.*

"Then go ahead!" the hat encouraged him.

*Why did you place my son, Daniel, into Slytherin?*

"Because I couldn't put him elsewhere."

*You couldn't put him elsewhere? Why? I understand that he's not a thing like a Hufflepuff, but… isn't he brave enough for Gryffindor? Or witty enough for Ravenclaw?*

"Too many questions… and there are no answers. I don't intend to change my mind, Harry Potter. Your son will be great in Slytherin."

"You're wrong," Harry pulled the Hat off his head, placing it back on the three-legged chair. As he removed the Hat, the first thing he saw was that the late headmaster, who was awake in his frame, looked concerned. To Harry he seemed rather familiar. Then it dawned on him: it was Professor Dippet. The one he had seen in the magic diary during his second year. Strangely this made him have a bad feeling… as if the late headmaster had known what he wanted to ask Dumbledore… about the possible heritage of Voldemort – or as Dippet had known him: Tom Marvolo Riddle. 

"Well, managed to get to know something?" Albus asked.

"No," Harry flopped down onto the chair facing the headmaster, turning his back on Armando Dippet. "The Hat refused to give its reasons. But… maybe you could… couldn't you?"

"Harry…" Albus heaved a deep sigh. "I understand how you feel now. It must be terrible for you, but if the Hat thinks that Daniel will be all right in Slytherin, then he will be all right."

"I fear that…" Harry's voice faltered.

"What?"

"That my son might have inherited things from Voldemort, through me."

"Oh," the old wizard breathed. "Well… it's not possible."

"No?" Harry raised an eyebrow – so did Dippet in the painting.

"No. You got powers and traits from Voldemort when he first tried to kill you, but it was a simple transfer of magic, - the magic built itself into your body, into your cells, but I'm sure that NOT into your DNA. It is there in you, but it cannot be passed down to your descendants. Never mistake magic for genetics, Harry. The powers you got from Voldemort aren't present in your son or either of your other children. Daniel is no Parselmouth, am I right?"

"No. None of my children is," Harry said, feeling a bit relieved. Professor Dippet also seemed to be in a bit better mood.

"See? Both you and Ginny are Parselmouths, but both of you got this ability through magic, not inheritance. You got it when the killing-curse failed and she got it when she was brought back from the netherworld with Apophys' torch. Had this power been inheritable, your children would be able to speak Parseltongue. But they are not," Albus scrutinised the young man's worried face. "No need to worry about this. Your son has not a single chromosome from Voldemort."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"But then… why has he been put into Slytherin?" Harry pressed.

"Of that I have no idea… but I'm sure that your son will _not become a dark wizard," he winked at Harry. "Anyway, it's not that terrible being in Slytherin. My own brother used to be there."_

"Aberforth?" Harry was really surprised.

"Well, yeah," Albus nodded. "Maybe that's why he played that nasty joke on me…" he shuddered. Harry stifled a chuckle, knowing what that nasty joke had been. Poor Albus…

"But your brother was never… ehm… evil, right?" he asked.

"Evil? No," the headmaster laughed. "He was a mischief-maker… almost as great as your father, Sirius, Remus and Peter together. He liked annoying people, and I guess that is why he got sorted into Slytherin. But no… he never used to be evil. Another example… eh, did you know that Gilderoy Lockhart was also a Slytherin?"

Harry's mouth tucked into a smirk. "Why don't I feel surprised by this?"

"Wonder why…" Albus chuckled.

Suddenly Fawkes woke up from his slumber, letting out two short squeaks, then falling asleep again.

"It's two o'clock in the morning. I think you should go to bed if you want to teach tomorrow… er, today, to be exact," Dumbledore said.

Harry grimaced. "You are using Fawkes as a cuckoo clock?"

**A/N**: yes, I know this was short, but the next one is twice as long as this one.

venenum velox means quick-killing poison (quite suitable for the Slytherin-common room password, huh? :)

_mandy weasley_: thanks :)

_AClodhoppingElf:_ yes, there will be some evil cliffies, especially near the end. Me – in Gryffindor? Well, truth be told the Warnerbros HP site kept putting me into Gryffindor, but last time I finally managed to get into Slytherin. Dunno why, but ever since I put Dan into Slytherin (that means since May, because I wrote this part back in May), I've liked that house. But I think that if the Hat had to sort me, it would either put me in Hufflepuff (because I'm peaceful and generous), or into Ravenclaw (because I like studying and I think – or at least hope - that I'm clever enough to get in there.)

_Christina_: please, don't die! Yes, I'm envious.

_Kristen Michelle:_ well, I hope you liked the reactions in this chapter.

_rebkos:_ you were laughing at Tom Parris' name? Hehe, then you'll be laughing even more in chapter 24, when he'll finally get a bit of a role – a bit of a funny role :)

_Jeanine23Dr:_ 'to sell half of your heart' sounds beautiful :) You're bored? I wish I could be a bit bored nowadays, but no such luck! No, we don't get Gilmore Girls here.

_Belle:_ no way would I put Malfoy into Gryffindor. I have read some stories doing the same and I didn't want to. I thought that having a Potter in Slytherin would be more interesting than

having a Malfoy in Gryffindor. Snape isn't laughing his head off, though. I'm glad I could make you laugh with Gilderoy :)

_Black Ice_: well, now you know what house I placed Gildy into. I couldn't imagine him elsewhere than in Slytherin. Well, perhaps Hufflepuff (given that he's a bungler). But I thought that Slytherin suited a stuck-up guy more.

_Katie Bell_: okay, let's say that Katie is Chris' mum :) Though Katie still won't have a role, because Chris won't be that important, either. Oliver himself will only have two short scenes. Lancelot – embarrassing name, huh? You know where I got the idea for that? From an Agatha Christie novel (don't remember the title), in which two brothers were called Percival and Lancelot. I thought that it was so ridiculous, and since Percy is short for Percival, I decided to name his son Lancelot. Knights of The Round Table rule! :))

_goldenstar555_: thanks :)

_Lyny_: do you also like Rowan Atkinson? I'm a huge fan of his! Mr Bean rulez! Well, Dan getting into Slytherin was the least terrible thing of all things Harry will have to suffer in this fic. Much worse things are to come. Pooooooor dear Harry, I'm so cruel to him! In the first fic I robbed him of his memories and Ginny, in the second I robbed him of his powers and his youth, in this one… you cannot imagine. Let's just say that he's never been through such horrible things. *evil grin*

_Altec_: oh, I see… I thought you had a kid of your own. Sorry.

_Laurel Hoffman_: the movie comes out on 5th December here, and I already have tickets. I don't think that Draco is that evil. Deep down he has a heart.

_Katrina_: I don't think it's bad to get into Slytherin – at least it's not bad for you or me, but for Daniel and Harry it is.

_makulit_: I'm happy to hear that my writing style's been improving :) Liu is given her mum's family name, because Cho never married her dad – her dad doesn't even know that she exists. Cho said so in chapter two, but she'll come back to this later as well. The fic will be centred around Daniel and Co., but Harry, Snape and Albus will be also important.

_star queen_: I was also sorry for Cho when Ced died, but in general I don't like her at all. I'm glad you liked the Hat Song! I spent about a week with writing it! Honestly, normally I write poems very quickly, but I just couldn't get on with this one, I feared I'd never finish it. So I'm happy to hear that it was worth the trouble :)

_Waldomier_: no mistakes? Yippiee!

_The-Girl-Who-Lived_: Desideria's business doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Dan being in Slytherin. But I'm not revealing yet what it exactly was about.

_Ice Kitten_: probably you have the Sight :)

_King Jasbon:_ no, the title ISN'T about Dan getting into Slytherin. You'll see what it's about in… chapter 29 *wicked grin* - it's a long wait :) The title of the second fic referred to Harry losing his powers.

_Lady Schezar_: Charlie, Bill, Arthur and Mollie won't have a single line. The other Weasleys will be around a bit, but not much. Well, Ginny will be around a lot more than her brothers, of course.

_Lizzie:_ sorry, but I had to put all the other Weasleys into Gryffindor, for plot reasons.

_Nefertiri_: it's NOT the end of the world :)

_FaeDreamer:_ no, I'm definitely not J.K. Rowling. Wish I could be!

_2Coolio:_ what did I make you think? *arrested look*

_sabby:_ Lance wanted to be in Ravenclaw, but I thought I'd make him miserable by putting him into Gryffindor. But honestly… even I don't understand him – how can someone feel miserable about being in Gryffindor? 

_Rab:_ Daniel was nothing like a Hufflepuff and I didn't want him to be a Ravenclaw. He's clever enough (as he'll show later), but I had a very good reason to put him into Slytherin.

_jen:_ yes, there's a good reason, though it won't be revealed until chapter… 28, I guess. Yes, love is definitely in the air – there will be quite many couples formed in this fic as well :)

_Harrysgirl_: no problem, your review wasn't that terribly long :) Read my answer to The-Girl-Who-Lived. No, Daniel isn't powerful, on the contrary. In chapter two Harry was kind of lamenting over Daniel having very little magical powers and resembling Neville Longbottom in this respect. He'll have lots of problems with his lack of talents, right in the next chapter.

_apple-pie:_ I'm afraid Trelawney is right this time (or at least comes very close to the truth).

_souls_: did you manage to get your jaw up off the floor? :))

_Alexander Pheonix_: you wrote: "And as Dumbledore says 'It is our choices that make us who we are, Harry.'" It's true, but not in Daniel's case. Everything will be explained in time.

_figgiesblazin_: wait it out, he WILL act 'slytherinly' (is that a word?). But I also think that not all Slytherins are bad. Some are really nice.

_Cyclo:_ Albus didn't manage to get a female P.E. teacher :)) And the students will be doing P.E. normally (or almost normally) dressed, so there'll be no problem with Gilderoy gazing at the seventh-year girls' tits :) I think he believes himself to be much more attractive than any girl :)

_Indigo Ziona_: yes, it's going to be a fun year (apart from all the terrible things that are about to happen :)

_jasper:_ yes, Dan and Norbert will be close friends.

_Phoenix_kiss02_: twisted, yes :)

_Kit Cloudkicker_: well, Harry didn't faint, did he? :) Whom will Draco find? Well, read back to the last chapter of TGSaWCS, and you'll have the answer. 

_Melee_: you wrote: "Daniel in Slytherin? Aberforth has a granddaughter!? Okay... where are you going?" Where? Towards shocks, grieves and terrible, lethal danger at the end… /Professor Trelawney, TGEEF, chapter 3/ *evil grin* - don't worry, things aren't that serious… yet :)

_starheart:_ no, Dan being in Slytherin has nothing to do with the fact that he had been born a squib. There's another reason for that. You also had a fic on GTnet and it didn't get successful? Well, somehow I think that on GTnet only the Queens can be successful… never mind. Oh, so you are also an Emma like Emma Watson? :)))

_Altec_: I had a very good reason to put Dan into Slytherin. And you'll find out that reason in chapter 28 or 29. Dan didn't have a choice, didn't have a chance to talk back to the Hat, because it was so determined and quick to place him into Slytherin. You are right that we don't know much about Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, it's true that they are kind of neglected, but for the major plot of this story it was VITAL to place Dan into Slytherin. Otherwise I might have put him into Ravenclaw, because he's a witty little guy, but you'll see that the story couldn't *exist* if Daniel had been put into any other house than Slytherin. Not even if he had been in Gryffindor. Trust me, it'll turn out to have a very good reason. That's the longest answer I have ever written you :)

_Kell_: it wasn't that much of a cliffie, was it?

_Toby Haine:_ Gilda sounds scary? LOL :) No, in fact she isn't scary at all, just likes fighting. Thanks a lot for reviewing on GTnet! *hugs and kisses you for it*

_Wood's secret lover_: you liked Mrs Norris? Really? Weird! Yes, I do love Gilderoy! A lot! :)) And I also hate P.E., because I always sucked in it. I have no talent for climbing ropes and stuff like that. Fortunately I no more have P.E. Why do I hate Cho? Dunno… perhaps because she made Harry so miserable in GoF.

_seashell_: yes, this story will be an anti-prejudice fic. Daniel himself will express my opinion about stupid prejudices in chapter 7. Of course I'm not telling who the evil is :) Well, now you have your answers about Aberforth and Julie.

_Maureen: _you'll get to know more about the Hogwarts festivities in chapter 8, as far as I remember… but effectively 1st May will only be in chapter 23. Yes, the caretaker will be important for some reason. Gilda was born months BEFORE the triplets. In chapter 38 of TGSaWCS Ginny was just 2 months pregnant, while Sunny was already showing, so she had to be 2-3 months ahead of Ginny.

_AmandaPanda:_ yes, I hope so…

_nicole:_ I'm glad I could amaze you :)

_K. C. Hunter_: oh, I hope you are feeling better now! Did you get my HP get-well card?

_Aimee_: I doubt that Dan will have so much fun in Slytherin… but wait it out and you'll see. No, Kevin and Norbert will never be friends.

_Lily:_ huh, thanks for deciding not to kill me! :)

_SiriDragon:_ sorry… no Gryffindor for Dan.

_Princess Ginny_: sorry but no, I haven't got your mail. When did you send me one? Read my answer to star queen.

_the coffee fiend_: thanks for the correction. I'm glad you liked Rowan Atkinson and Nelly Oleson :)

_Missy:_ I'm from Hungary (central Europe).

_Derkaun Zarion_: it seems you know me enough already :) Liu is pronounced as Leeoo. You'll see Narcissa Malfoy in chapter 28. No, Percy won't become Minister, at least not in this fic. You can imagine him becoming Minister years later, if you feel like. 

_Saphron_: you liked Filch? How weird! I'm sure that Lockhart knows some charms against sweating :)) But you know… a sweaty Gilderoy must also look sexy… Yes, you'll see Draco, and quite a bit of him, but only later.

_Allie:_ sorry, but Dan must stay in Slytherin.

_spangle*star:_ thanks, I'm glad you appreciated my 'Dan in Slytherin' idea :)

_Ronniekin's Sweetheart_: I'm glad that you managed to wake up after fainting :)))

_Teri:_ thanks a lot! :)

_reviewer with no name:_ yes, I'm building up, and I'll continue it till chapter 12, so please, be patient with me! (btw, are you the same who wrote me a review with the name 'me' last time? Just wondering) 

_LilGinny:_ yes, Anck-sun-Amun is pretty. Not all children look like their parents. Some take after their grand- and great-grandparents. You're in love with Norbert?!? LOL :) Narcissa must be doing fine. You'll see a bit of Draco-Norbert antagonism, but not too much.

_NuttyBuddy:_ yeah, I hope it will be interesting :)

_CandyGurl83_: hazardous to your health? *big grin* I'm glad you aren't planning to give up reading :) Harry's not that much of a sex maniac, is he? *innocent look* No, I haven't seen the movie yet. On 5th December…

_Blondie in Disguise_: yes, there is a logical explanation, but I'm not revealing it yet. You don't need to worry about the story's direction… for a while. From chapter 12 you can start worrying :)

_TaMaraR:_ what does Kevin call Fred and George? Dad and dad :) 

_C-chan_: oh, you've become a Gildy fan? Great! I've loved him from the first time I read CoS. I tend to love the idiotic characters :) Who or what is Eomer?

_romina:_ no, I cannot have chosen something different. Dan had to be a Slytherin in order to make the story 'function'. 

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: yes, I'm going to relieve the Slytherin prejudice. At least a bit.

_tarantula_: thanks :)

_Houou:_ no, Daniel won't necessarily be the bane of Potter's existence. No, his becoming a Slytherin has nothing to do with getting powers late. Something else, though, will have a lot to do with it, but I won't reveal it until chapter 13.

_Autumn Dreams_: truth be told, I had no idea what the guy playing Filch was called. So no, I didn't take the name Bradley from there – but it's a funny coincidence :)

_Lana Riddle_: I'm glad you think so :)

_Sean Mulligan_: no, that's not the reason. Yes, Dan's insecure about himself, but the reason is something else.

_Whit2005_: you are not going to see the triplets go to Hogwarts, because this fic will be only about this school year.

_Zenon Lee:_ how nice to see you again! You wrote: "Well...I can follow your current fic without reading the previous one." Uh… I'm not sure. If you haven't read TGSaWCS properly, you won't understand this one properly. As for Liu's name – it was Rowling (with all due respect to her) who bungled it up. She made it look like as though Cho had been the girl's given name and Chang had been her family name. She might have made a mistake, since no one is perfect, not even the wonderful J. K. Every time Harry thought about Cho, he thought of her as 'Cho', not as 'Chang', and I don't think that he'd have thought of her by her family name. For example Ron would never say 'Granger' instead of Hermione. She is just Hermione to him and Harry. So it seems obvious that Cho is the given name. I don't doubt that you know these things better than me or Rowling, but I'm going to leave Liu's name the way it is, given that Rowling used Cho as the given name and Chang as the family name. Blame her :)

_Puck:_ I hope you are feeling better now. Desideria the goldfish wasn't necessarily referring to Daniel. But who knows? Of course I'm not telling it yet.

_Any last requests_: yes, I have an ulterior motive:) I'm glad you liked the Hat's song, I had a hard time writing it.

_Drex_: better than the other two? I'm glad you already think so, but in fact it will only get more exciting after chapter 12. But as a whole it's really the best thing I have ever written. You're Peruvian? Great. Where did I get the idea from? Dunno… maybe because I was reading Inca mythology over the summer. I simply love Inca mythology, it's so cool.

_Sky_: thanks :)    


	5. Maps and Mirrors

A/N: Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it! 

Have you seen The Santa Clause 2? I have just come back from the cinema – it was excellent! So much fun! And there was a little girl called Lucy in there who looked exactly the way I'd imagine a seven-year-old Ginny. If you haven't seen it yet, do so :)

Also thanks for the nice reviews! 

Here's a long chapter for you. Note that this is still build-up, so not action-packed. I hope you'll still like it.

Chapter 5 Maps and mirrors 

After his discussion with Dumbledore, Harry headed for his room. As he turned left on a corner, he accidentally ran into someone carrying at least a dozen different sized packages that – of course – ended up on the floor with a thud.

"Sorry!" Harry said, bending down to help the other person gather his things. "Oh, it's you, Neville!"

"Hi, Harry!" Mr. Longbottom, the new Flying professor greeted him with a thorough handshake. "Nice to see you!"

"Nice to see you, too. What are you doing here, at half past two in the morning?"

"Just arrived," Neville replied, picking up his suitcase and carryall. "Wasn't Dumbledore mad that I was late for the evening feast?"

"Not mad, just a bit surprised, I guess," Harry said, handing Neville the last piece of scattered package: a box that emitted the unmistakable croaking of a toad. "Trevor, isn't it?"

"No," the Flying professor laughed. "Trevor passed away years ago. This one is called Severus."

"What?" Harry's eyes widened. "You named your toad after Snape?"

Neville grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. Because this toad is much uglier than the previous one."

Both young men burst into laughter.

"Man, what a moral-booster…" Harry took off his glasses to wipe away the tears of laughter. "I really needed this laugh, Neville."

"Why? Is something amiss, Harry?" Longbottom's face turned serious – way too serious for someone like him. Harry had to admit that Neville had changed a lot. Awfully lot. The once pudgy and clumsy boy was a man now.

"Well… it's not that terrible, after all…" the Charms professor looked at his shoes, "It's just that my son got sorted into Slytherin."

Neville made a face like a dumbfounded fish – his mouth wide agape and his eyes bulging in surprise. "You… don't mean it, do you? I mean, come on, he's a Potter! Why would the Sorting Hat put him into Slytherin?"

"I don't know," Harry shook his head. "Neither does Albus. I'm at my wit's end."

"I'm sorry, my friend," Longbottom said sympathetically. "I'm sure I'd also feel miserable if Eve got sorted into Slytherin."

"Eve?"

"My daughter, Evelyn. I named her after my mother."

"Oh… how are your parents doing?" Harry asked. He remembered that Neville's mother and father had been healed after the Dark Lord's destruction.

"They are okay and likely to move to us to Hogsmeade. They say they cannot live without their little granddaughter…" Neville smiled. "And they are right… Eve's a real angel. You've got to get to know her."

Harry nodded. "I'm sure she is adorable. So, your family isn't going to live at Hogwarts like Lupin's?" 

"No. My wife Mary Sue and Eve will be living at Mrs. Figg's pension until we manage to buy a house in the village. After that my parents will also move to Hogsmeade. Anyway, I didn't want to bring a little child into the castle… she'd be scared to death by the Bloody Baron…" he looked around, then whispered into Harry's ear: "Sometimes I still get scared by ghosts… and I'm afraid to meet Snape again."

"I promise I won't tell him that you named your toad after him," Harry winked at his old friend. "And don't worry about him, he'll have to respect you and treat you as an equal."

Neville wrinkled his nose. "I don't think I'll like him more as a colleague than as a teacher… but at least those times are over when I was bungling in his damned dungeons, melting cauldron after cauldron. It's still a bit hard for me to believe that I'm a professor!"

"Same here," Harry nodded. "By the way, how did you come by the job of the Flying teacher? When I applied for a job the advertisement only said that they were looking for a Charms professor… had I known that Hooch's place was also free, you would have had a competition for it, Neville."

"I can imagine that," Longbottom grinned. "However, the advertisement about Hooch's job was published in the _Daily Prophet_ weeks after you took on Flitwick's. Originally, Hooch didn't want to retire, but a nasty flying accident compelled her to."

"Poor Madame Hooch. Ah, the irony of life…" Harry sighed. "Remember our very first flying lesson? Oh, stupid question, how could you not remember?" he added with a chuckle. 

"Yeah… I was the worst flier in the class… maybe in the whole school…"

"…and now you're one of the best in Great Britain." 

Neville flushed a bit. "Thanks, Harry."

"No need to thank… I told you that you were worth a dozen Malfoys! He never became as good a Quidditch player as you, after all."

"Speaking of Malfoy… is that bank in Hogsmeade really his? I couldn't _not _notice it with all those magical torches illuminating its façade…"

"Well, you know the Malfoys," Harry shrugged. "They love to show off. By the way, there's a new Malfoy among the first-years… better watch out for him."

"Constant vigilance?" young Longbottom smirked. "Okay, I guess Severus is sleepy… so am I. I've got to take a nap," he added. "G'night, Harry."

"Good night, Neville," the Charms professor watched as his old friend disappeared into a room, and headed for his own. He also had a class in the morning – with the third-year Hufflepuffs.

As he turned into his corridor, he heard the angry voice of McGonagall coming from a nearby room:

"You have been married before me? And never told me? ABERFORTH DUMBLEDORE, I WANT AN EXPLANATION!" 

* * * * *

For the first time in his life, Daniel couldn't eat breakfast. He was terribly hungry, but he felt that he'd surely throw up anything he swallowed. His stomach was making flip-flops as he stared at the scrambled eggs that his friend was devouring with delight. He tried to divert his thoughts from his grief over being in Slytherin by studying the timetable. It looked as follows:

Monday                      

History of M. (9 o'clock) – with Gryffindor

Herbology (11:30) – with Hufflepuff

Lunch

Tuesday 

Transfiguration (9 o'clock) – with Hufflepuff

P.E. (11:30) – all classes together

Lunch

Wednesday 

DaDA (9 o'clock)

Lunch

Astronomy (11 p.m.) – with Ravenclaw

Thursday 

Flying (11:30) – with Ravenclaw

Lunch

Friday 

Potions (9 o'clock) – with Gryffindor

Charms (11:30) – with Gryffindor

Lunch

"Whassa matter?" Norbert asked with his mouth full of bacon. "You look concerned."

"How could I not be?" Daniel sighed. "We are going to have Potions in ten minutes. Potions! On Friday! How terrible…"

"You're afraid of Snape, right?" the other boy perceived, pouring himself a glass of orange-juice.

Dan nodded. "That guy gives me the creeps. He hated my grandpa, hates my dad and he'll surely hate me, too. He was looking daggers at me during the evening feast and he told me off before going to bed. I don't dare imagine what he'll do to me during class."

"Don't worry, Dan, you're a Slytherin. He won't be taking points from you, because then _his_ house would lose points. You're safe."

"No," young Potter shook his head. "Slytherin house might be safe, but not me," he cast a wistful glance at his sister Lily sitting at Gryffindor table, talking animatedly with Christopher Wood. She seemed to have a rosier complexion than usual. Daniel couldn't not notice David Dursley giving bitter glances to Lily and Christopher from the table of Hufflepuff. Now Daniel managed to understand it: David _liked Lily. And not like someone likes his second-cousin..._

But Lily didn't seem to notice the Dursley boy looking at her, neither did Yvette Weasley – from Ravenclaw table – notice that Chris Wood was giving her furtive glances while talking to Lily.

"What are you looking at like that?" Norbert asked.

Daniel's mouth tucked into a smirk. "A double triangle."

"What?"

"My second cousin David seems to like my sister Lily. Lily definitely likes Christopher Wood. Chris, however, likes my cousin Yvette."

"Interesting," the other boy shrugged. "Let's hope that little Liu Chang doesn't like anyone yet," he added with a wink.

Daniel blushed furiously, casting a sideways glance at Liu, who was deeply absorbed in a conversation with Yvette. 

Suddenly the air filled with the noise of wings.

"Mail's here," Norbert said as a barn owl flopped down on his plate, dropping a letter into it. "Oh… it's an apologising letter from Pudgy."

"Who?"

"Our house-elf," Malfoy shrugged. "He is my elf, to be exact. Father gave him to me years ago. He's a bit of a bungler. I have had to make him punish himself more times than you could imagine. Yesterday, I was almost late for the train because of him – you know, father was too busy to accompany me to King's Cross, so the elf took me there. I couldn't even tell him off properly because I was in such a hurry. He writes that he broke his nose to expiate for taking me there late and begs me not to tell my father about his blundering."

"Why not?"

"Because father isn't as lenient as I am," Norbert shrugged and Daniel shuddered, having heard already too much about Lucius Malfoy.

"You're really lenient to the house-elves? Care to join S.P.E.W., then?"

"The band?"

"No. The original S.P.E.W," young Potter replied. 

S.P.E.W. had become a widespread movement throughout Europe during the last decade. While Hermione was at home with her twins, she was downright bored, having nothing useful to do besides housework. So she re-started the Society for Promotion of Elfish Welfare… and to her – and everyone else's – greatest surprise, it became so popular that many wizarding families started to set their elves free and pay for their work. 

With the financial help of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, the movement became such a success, that - to Ron's utter disgust - the wizard youngsters created a new fashion in clothing: robes, shirts, Quidditch equipment, towels, umbrellas and everything adorned with the script SPEW. Last year a new band called SPEW was introduced in WWN, becoming the favourite band of young witches and wizards at once. Bands like the _Weird Sisters, the__ Wacky Warlocks and the __Apparate! were forced into the background by __SPEW._

"No way," Norbert shook his head. "I love the band, they're cool, but I _spew up from the thought of making a fool of myself by campaigning against house-elf enslavement. My father would kill me if I did, anyway."_

"Hey, guys," Gilda Lockhart stepped to them, "hurry up, or you'll be late for Potions," with that she picked up her schoolbag (bearing the letters SPEW on it) and strolled away.

"Okay, let's go," Daniel sighed, feeling like going into the lion's den, and followed Norbert out of the hall, down the stairs.

* * * * *

They were indeed late - the door to Snape's dungeon classroom had already been closed by the time they arrived there.

Daniel gulped. "Now what?"

"Well… I'm a Malfoy. He won't punish me…" his friend thought aloud.

"That doesn't stand for me," Dan pouted. "Oh, well…" he screwed up his courage and knocked.

"Come in!" Snape's harsh voice said from inside.

"I'd better go first," Norbert said and entered, followed by Daniel.

"Aha… _Potter," the Potions teacher said with a rather threatening expression. _

*Of course he wouldn't say 'Aha, _Malfoy'* Dan thought bitterly._

"I'm sorry about being late, professor," he said finally.

"I can imagine how sorry you are," Severus folded his arms.

"It wasn't his fault, professor!" Norbert said. "It was mine. Punish me, not him!"

Snape's mouth seemed to be twitching for a moment – his face revealed the inner struggle: take points off his house and punish both Potter and Malfoy, or leave it at that? It would be rather ridiculous, after all, if Slytherin also started the school year with minus points, just like Gryffindor.

"This time we can dispense with the punishment," Snape said, "but only because of Mr. Malfoy's moral fibre."

"What moral fibre???" Kevin Weasley gasped at the other end of the room – the Slytherins and Gryffindors had Potions together, as always.

Snape shot Kevin a stare that made him shut up.

"Where were we when Malfoy and Potter interrupted?" the professor mused. 

Lancelot Weasley's hand shot into the air. "You said that Potions wasn't foolish wand-waving, professor."

"I didn't ask you, Weasley," Snape growled at him. "I know perfectly what I have told you. So… I can teach you how to bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses… bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper into death."

"That's boring," Viviane whispered to Kevin. "According to mum he said the same when she was a first-year."

"C'mon, what did you expect from him?" Valentine shrugged. "He doesn't look the type with a vivid imagination to make up new speeches every year."

"Ms. Weasley… and Ms. Weasley," Snape spoke up. "Do you care to share your thoughts with us? They must be very interesting, indeed."

The always so chatty twins cringed and cast their eyes down.

"No?" Snape raised an eyebrow. "Then maybe you could answer a couple of questions… but no… not you. Let's ask the latecomers. Potter!"

"Yes, sir?" Daniel looked up, knowing exactly what was coming.

"What do I get if I add bat-blood and phoenix tears to an infusion of fluxweed?"

Lancelot's hand shot into the air again.

"I don't know, sir," Dan replied.

"Malfoy?" 

"If you don't mind, professor, I prefer to be called Devilsmoor, after my mother's name," said Norbert with an angelic expression. "And I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer."

"Then try again. Potter, what does the Discord Potion do to its drinkers, what are its ingredients and what does it taste like?"

Daniel shot an angry glance at Lancelot who almost fell off his chair, because he was waving to catch Snape's attention so badly.

"I don't know, sir."

"Weasley?" Snape turned to the twins.

"Which one of us?" asked Valentine.

"You," Snape pointed at Viviane.

"I don't know, sir," Viv shrugged.

"And you?" the professor asked Val.

"I don't know it, either."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Does anyone know the answer to either of my questions?"

Lancelot was almost standing, stretching out as much as he could.

"All right, then, Weasley. Enlighten us," Severus said with a grim expression.

"Bat-blood, phoenix tears and fluxweed create a potion that witches used to get rid of their unwanted children in the middle-ages when the _KeinKind Potion and the __Anti-conceptus __Charm hadn't been invented," Percy's son replied, adjusting his glasses, looking around proudly to see the confusion on the others' faces._

Snape nodded, though clearly unwillingly. "That's right. And the second one?"

"Well, the Discord Potion creates discord, of course. If two people drink it about the same time and meet each other within one hour, then they'll start fighting, even if they have always been very good friends. Its ingredients are lacewing, venom of a doxy, shredded shrivelfig, milk of a mother unicorn and a bit of magically boosted honey, in order to take away its bitter taste. So the Discord Potion tastes overall very sweet," he beamed at Snape.

"Right," the professor nodded.

In the rest of the class the students made a simple hair-growing potion.

Snape was walking up and down in the classroom, telling off Nigel Bailey of Gryffindor for having spilt too much of eel-eyes into his cauldron and made it melt. Snape immediately sent for the caretaker to come and fix the mess. Of course he could have cleaned it up with a swish of his wand, but probably had wanted to stick to his speech that Potions wasn't foolish wand-waving.

Daniel and Norbert were working close to the Weasley children.

"He didn't give Lance a single point!" Kevin fumed. "Had he been an ickle Slytherin, he would surely have got at least fifty points!"

"Prejudices against Slytherin again, Weasley?" Norbert snorted.

"Why? Aren't I right?" Kevin spat. "You two were late but Snape didn't take a single point off Slytherin. Had Daniel been a Gryffindor, he would have been punished and you not. Now that he's in Slytherin, Snape didn't want to take points from your house just because he was late."

"You sound as if you were accusing me of getting into Slytherin!" Daniel retorted.

"We aren't accusing you, Dan," Valentine said. "You know that we love you. It's just so hard to believe… you should be with us, in Gryffindor."

"Yeah," Viviane agreed. "That's where you belong, not the slimy Slytherin."

"Explain that to the Sorting Hat," Daniel said sadly. The door of the dungeon classroom opened to admit Bert Bradley, the caretaker.

Dan watched him as he cleaned up the remains of the melted cauldron, wondering how this weenie, bag-of-bones guy could hold that huge mop at all. He didn't seem to have enough strength for such a work, still he made a nice job – not a single fleck of potion remained on the floor.

As Bert Bradley walked past Daniel with a bucket full of dirty water, he dropped a remark:

"If I were you, I wouldn't put glycerol and nitric acid in it, or it will explode."

"Excuse me?" the boy raised an eyebrow.

"I said it would explode if you put glycerol and nitric acid into it," he pointed at the vial in Dan's hand. "That's glycerol in your hand… I can tell by its smell, but for you it was easy to mistake it for that bowl over there," he pointed at a bowl filled with bat-liver oil, then he peered into Daniel's cauldron. "You have already put H2SO4 in it by mistake – you must have mistook it for that thing in that other bottle… er, armadillo bile, or what..."

Professor Snape stepped to them.

"What is the problem, Potter?"

"Nothing, professor… according to Mr. Bradley I have mistook bat-liver oil for glycerol and armadillo bile for H2… H2... forgot," Daniel shrugged.

"H2SO4. Sulphuric acid," Bert finished the boy's sentence.

Snape took a bit of the potion out with a ladle, then let it trickle back into the cauldron. "Hm… indeed," he gave a surprised glance to the young caretaker. "And what did Mr. Bradley say it would cause if you spilled glycerol and nitric acid into it?"

"He said it would explode," Dan shrugged.

"Yes, because glycerol, nitric and sulphuric acid make nitro-glycerine," the caretaker said nonchalantly. "You should maybe keep such dangerous things out of the reach of the first-year students, professor."

Snape's expression changed from surprised to dumbfound. "Oh, of course… those bowls of sulphuric acid and glycerol must have been left here by mistake… my mistake," he immediately snatched up the bowl, then turned back to Mr. Bradley. "Um, I never met a caretaker who understood Potions," he said with a hint of admiration.

"Oh, I don't really understand Potions, Mr. Snape," Bert replied. "How could I? I'm a Muggle."

"Then how could you…?"

"Before I came to work here, I taught at a Muggle school… I taught Chemistry," Bert said and walked out with his bucket. 

"Another Muggle caretaker?" Norbert furrowed his brow as the students left the dungeons. "I don't understand Dumbledore. Why does he insist on employing magickless people?"

"Dunno…" Daniel shrugged, quite surprised that a person like Snape would ever admit that he had made a mistake by leaving dangerous stuff in his classroom – moreover, admit it in front of a mere caretaker! "But did you see how Snape stared at that guy?"

"No. How?"

"I couldn't really describe it… with respect, I guess."

"…and we know how hard it is to make Snape respect you," his friend added.

"Exactly," Dan nodded. "What's the next lesson again?"

"Charms. With your dad."

"Oh."

"You don't look too happy about it," Norbert perceived. 

"Of course not. He's my dad. He's brilliant in charms, but… I don't like the idea of him teaching me. Other students might say that he's favouring me or something. He's not the type, but… it's still embarrassing."

"I think I understand you. You are afraid of being Daddy's Little Son at Charms classes."

"Kind of," Daniel nodded. *And I'm also afraid that I'll suck at charms.* he added in thought.

* * * * *

The first ever class of Professor Potter's life as a teacher went all right – the majority of the third-year Hufflepuffs were quite talented in Charms. To Harry's greatest surprise his cousin, David Dursley, proved to be the best. Then again, this shouldn't have surprised him: he had heard from Dudley that Davie used to make cakes fly at the age of nine months.

However, Professor Potter was a bit concerned about his second class with the first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins. He didn't really like the idea of teaching two classes at once, but according to Hermione, McGonagall had spent weeks arranging the timetables for all classes, so he didn't see the point in entering into a controversy with Minerva. 

"First of all: welcome to your first Charms class!" Harry greeted the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. "For those who don't know me: I'm Professor Potter."

Some of the students started to snigger: who wouldn't know Harry Potter?

After Harry read out a list of the students' names to try and memorise them, he got down to teaching.

"Well, we are going to start with basic things today. All you will need is your wands," the new teacher carried on. "I presume all of you managed to make your wands emit sparks when you bought them at Ollivander's. I'd like you to do it again: produce a shower of sparks."

"That's damn easy!" Norbert grimaced.

"You can't expect him to teach us the Cheering Charm at our very first lesson!" Gilda Lockhart said with a scolding expression.

"Who asked for your opinion?" young Malfoy snapped and waved his wand to eject a shower of silver and green sparks.

Daniel also flipped his wand and managed a couple of feeble reddish-gold ones. All the children succeeded in ejecting sparks, mainly red, yellow and green.

"All right, I see that you all managed it," Professor Potter smiled at the children. "But you know that it's an important thing what kind of sparks we produce. For example if we are in trouble, we send up red sparks… You will have to learn to produce sparks of certain colours and sizes. Now I'm going to ask you to produce blue sparks in the size of Snitches. Like this." he waved his wand that immediately emitted a shower of royal blue, walnut-sized sparks. "Go on, try it."

Some of the students managed the task, but others had problems with the colour and size of their sparks.

"Professor Potter?" Nigel Bailey, the boy who had melted a cauldron in Potions, put up his hand. "Is there an incantation that could help us to produce the required colour and size?"

"No, Mr. Bailey," Harry shook his head. "This is such a basic thing that wizards never cared to make up incantations for it. This is something you've got to do by instinct. Try to concentrate. Close your eyes, if needed, and imagine blue sparks of the size of walnuts."

"Okay," Nigel nodded, somewhat insecurely. Daniel watched the Gryffindor boy intently, hoping to learn how to do it, since he had the same problem: his sparks refused to turn blue and remained as small as peas.

After a minute of concentration, Nigel Bailey succeeded and gave Professor Potter a triumphant smile.

Daniel decided to copy Nigel's tactic: he closed his eyes and imagined the sparks in the required colour and size, then flipped his wand and opened his eyes.

Red. They were still red. And small.

He let out a resigned sigh. "I'll never manage it," he mumbled, watching enviously as Lancelot Weasley showered the classroom with magnificent blue sparks. Kevin, Valentine and Viviane also seemed to have no problem with the task at all. All the Slytherins did it, too.

"I'm a bungler," Dan sighed.

"Are not," Gilda said.

"Am too!" Dan retorted.

"Oh, ickle Danniekins is starting to whine! Why don't you run to daddy?" Donald Rookwood smirked from a nearby table.

"Shut up if you don't want me to smash your face!" Norbert growled at the other Slytherin boy. "Daniel is just a bit… indisposed at the moment, but he can do it. Right, Dan?" he shot his friend a peremptory look.

"Uh-huh," Daniel nodded, screwing up his face in concentration, finally emitting a couple of huge, blue sparks – that accidentally set Gilda Lockhart's robes on fire.

"Help!" she screamed.

Professor Potter immediately sent an extinguishing charm on the girl's robes.

"Who did this?" he asked with knitted eyebrows.

"Me, dad," Dan seemed to have shrunk to the half of his usual size. "I mean, Professor Potter."

"It was an accident, professor," Norbert defended his friend. This was the first time Harry thoroughly inspected him. This was the boy whom he had helped on King's Cross to get on the train. The boy who stared at his scar then left without saying thanks. Harry frowned. This boy didn't look much like a Malfoy – with the exception of his eyes, that were unmistakably Malfoy-ish: cold grey, just like Lucius' and Draco's. But then again, Harry had heard that the Malfoys had vampire ancestors as well – so no wonder that this boy had such dark hair. His complexion was just as pale as that of all members in his family. A boy with vampire ancestors… and this boy seemed to have made friends with his son. Harry shuddered. 

"Are you all right, Ms. Lockhart?" finally he turned to Gilda.

"Yes, sir," she nodded. 

When the class started to exercise their very first incantation (Lumos), Daniel leant closer to Gilda with a rather embarrassed expression. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to set you on fire."

"No harm done," she shrugged. "Yesterday I beat you up on the train. Now you set me on fire. We are quits."

It was lunchtime, but Daniel didn't feel hungry. He hadn't eaten anything the whole day, but he still felt that he'd be sick if he did – after the Charms class he felt even more so than in the morning.

He had screwed up. He couldn't accomplish something as easy as conjuring sparks!

Norbert decided to exercise solidarity and he didn't have lunch, either.

Harry, at the staff table, couldn't help but notice that his son was missing from the Slytherin table, and he had a good idea why. 

"All right, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Not really, Herm," he shook his head.

"Didn't your first two classes go well?" she looked concerned.

"They went okay," he shrugged. "David Dursley turned out to be very talented. I never thought he could be this good."

"Then why are you so sad?"

"Daniel," he sighed.

"What happened to him?" she furrowed her eyebrows. "Besides getting into Slytherin and having had a terrible Potions class…"

"He couldn't perform the simplest charms properly, Hermione," Harry put his spoon down, having lost his appetite. "At first he couldn't even produce blue sparks, and when he finally did it, he set the robes of Gilderoy's daughter on fire. And this isn't the main problem, I mean not every wizard is so damn talented, but… the point is that he was broken down by this. I saw the pain in his eyes, Herm. He's probably sitting in a toilet, sunk in misery."

"I don't think so," she shook her head. "He isn't the type to break down, is he? He's way too much like you, Harry. He's strong. He can take anything. He must be shaken, but he'll overcome this," she squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Trust him."

Harry nodded awkwardly, directing his attention back to the broth. "Uh, by the way, how do you know that Dan had a terrible Potions class?"

"Viv and Val told me about it. Snape doesn't like Dan, that's for sure. But he doesn't like my kids and Kevin, either," she shrugged. "Just the usual Snapish behaviour."

Harry's mouth tucked into a smirk, then it disappeared at once when he caught a glance of Aberforth and Minerva. Those two looked as though they had swallowed a dagger. *Oh, the poor fellow.* Harry thought, feeling sorry for Aberforth. *He must have fallen out with McGonagall again. But he really should have told her that he has been married before…* 

* * * * *

"Lunch isn't over yet, and I'm hungry!" Norbert whined as he and Daniel walked down the corridors. Dan hoped he'd feel better after a bit of walking, but up till now his mood hadn't improved.

"I didn't ask you to come and walk with me. Go and have lunch. I'm not hungry," Dan replied.

"I'm not leaving you alone in your current state. You might…" Norbert's voice trailed off.

"What? Commit suicide?" Daniel's voice sounded cold and ironic. 

"For heaven's sake, Dan!" Norbert clutched at his arm. "Don't ever talk like this!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to make any harm to myself… especially because I couldn't. I cannot perform a single charm to hurt myself, besides, my mum would die if I did. I love her too much to cause her pain."

"And what about your father? Wouldn't he die, too?"

"Probably," Daniel hung his head. "Considering how much he has done for me already…"

"What has he done for you? … besides fathering you," Norbert asked with an amused look.

Young Potter heaved a deep sigh. "Well… I think it's all right to tell you."

"Tell me? What?"

"I was born a squib."

"I guess father mentioned something like this… but then even he started to doubt it when he heard from people that you were magic, after all. What exactly is the truth?"

"I _was _born a squib, that's the truth," Daniel sighed. "Then my dad caught a magic goldfish in the Durmstrang Lake – a wish-fulfilling goldfish. Dad's wish was to make all his descendants have magic powers. So happened that I got powers. But originally I didn't possess them. That's why I'm such a bungler at Charms. I'm sure I'm going to screw up in Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts as well… I simply don't have enough magic for that." 

"Ew, this sucks," Norbert shook his head. "Your powers aren't really yours… just got them as a present or what? That must be really disturbing!"

"It is. You have no idea how much it is," young Potter replied bitterly. "My cousins were always better than me. Even my Muggle-born second-cousin, David. Okay… now you know it. I will understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore…"

"Do you know that you are utterly stupid?" young Malfoy said.

"Well, my sister Lily keeps telling me that…" Dan shrugged.

Norbert rolled his eyes. "I meant that you were stupid thinking that I wouldn't be your friend anymore. I don't care that you are less able a wizard… and you know what? I'm ready to help you with whatever you aren't that good at. You are going to be all right – you managed those sparks, after all…"

"Yeah, but I set Gilda on fire."

Norbert waved. "That doesn't matter. She deserved it… crazy, arrogant chick. I still hurt at many places where she hit me. I'm glad you set her on fire," he added with a wink.

Daniel couldn't help but grin. "Will you really help me? Practise with me?"

"'Course I will. We are friends, aren't we?"

Young Potter nodded. "We are. Though I still can't believe to have a Malfoy as my best friend."

"I bet you can't," Norbert smirked. "Okay, you have this weight off your chest, can't we go back and have lunch at last?"

"Well… we could…" Daniel said then suddenly stopped before a door, the expression of surprise spreading on his face.

"What happened? The Great Hall is the other way!" his friend reminded him, but Dan didn't listen, just pushed the handle of the door. It refused to open. "Why do you want to get in there?"

"I didn't even notice that we have walked this far away from the Great Hall," Dan said. "I've just realised what this room is… or might be."

"And? What's this?"

"My parents' one-time room."

"Huh?"

"Mum and dad used to live here when they were in their seventh year."

"What?" Norbert looked incredulous. "They were living here _together when they were students? Did Dumbledore let them?"_

"Sure he did, 'cause they were married. At least I think this must be that room… I just can't open the door."

Norbert shrugged. "_Alohomora!"_

The door opened to reveal a room with forget-me-not-blue tapestry. There was a small dais with an ancient book standing on it.

"Wow, the Hogwarts parchment book!" Norbert said admiringly.

"Then it's really their room," Dan nodded. "Mum and dad had to share the room with the book," he looked around. "Their bed must have stood there," he pointed at the corner.

"And maybe you were even conceived in this room?" his friend added with a wicked grin.

"Not likely," young Potter shook his head. "I was conceived a month before my parents' wedding, and they only moved into this room after they got married."

"Aha. So your sister Lily and you came along before your parents were joined in the holy bind of matrimony?"

Daniel blushed a bit. "Yeah. They were a bit… thoughtless, I guess."

"Not just a bit," Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy looked around in the room. "Hm… what's this?" he stepped to a tall, flat thing that was covered with a purple sheet with a thick layer of dust on it. He tugged at the sheet that fell down onto the floor, revealing a mirror.

It was a huge mirror with an ornate golden frame. There was a script carved around the top:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi 

"Great! The mirror of Erised!" Dan said with admiration. "I always wanted to see it ever since dad mentioned it to me!"

"Erised?"

"Desire," Dan shrugged. "It has to be read backwards."

Norbert started to decipher the text: "I show not your face but your heart's desire. Um, what does it exactly mean?"

"Simple: stand in front of it and it will show you the greatest desire of your heart. It will show it only to you, so you can even keep it a secret."

Norbert stepped before the mirror and looked into it. His eyes seemed to flash for a second – in surprise or fright, Daniel couldn't tell. Maybe neither. Norbert didn't look surprised, after all, as if he had known what the deepest desire of his heart was.

"What do you see?" Dan asked him.

Young Malfoy shuddered, then turned around to face his new friend. "Oh… myself… with my parents and my brother Draco. Being a happy family."

Dan nodded knowingly. He was sure that Norbert didn't get enough love from his parents and he had heard that Draco downright despised his younger brother. No wonder what Norbert wanted above all was to live in a loving and caring family.

"Your turn."

Daniel stepped in front of the mirror and his mouth tucked into a sarcastic smirk. "I knew it."

"What? What does it show you?"

"Me, as a great wizard… as a Gryffindor… older, and looking like… dad."

"He's your idol, eh?"

"Yeah. I want to be like him. I don't want to be as famous, but I want to be as brave and talented… but I'll never be."

"Defeatist," Norbert shook his head. "Really. You're gonna be okay. And if not, then I'll tutor you, as I promised."

Daniel forced a little smile. "I've got to tell Kevin that not all Slytherins are bad. Honestly. I have never had such a good friend."

As he turned around to examine a closed cabinet, he couldn't see the pitiful pouting of Norbert.

"This one is also locked," Dan said.

"Then try and open it," his friend said. "First lesson: _Alohomora._ Go on!"

Young Potter nodded, pointing his wand at the lock. "_Alohomora_!"

The door didn't budge.

Seeing Dan's disappointment, Norbert waved. "It's just because the emphasis is on 'mo', not on 'Al'. Try again."

"Aloho_mora!" _

The door of the cabinet flung open to reveal several small objects in it.

"This seems to be some kind of reserve for things that students had lost."

"Or maybe they keep the most dangerous magical objects here!" Dan commented enthusiastically, feeling overjoyed that he had managed to open the door.

"Well, let's see, then," Norbert pulled out a funny-shaped thing. "Just a sneakoscope. Not dangerous at all."

"What if it's bewitched?"

Norbert shrugged and put the sneakoscope back into the cabinet. "What about this one?"

"A fanged frisbee? Ow, watch out or it will bite your hand off!" the frisbee indeed started to move and clench its teeth, so Norbert dropped it back into the cabinet as fast as he could.

Daniel, meanwhile, had pulled out an innocent-looking parchment and started to study it with interest.

"Put it back, there's nothing interesting about it. It's blank," Norbert said.

"It might be written on with invisible ink, or you could make it reveal words if you write on it… dunno, worth a try."

Dan put the parchment on the table and pulled his quill and a bottle of ink out of his bag. He dipped the quill into the ink and wanted to write something. The tip of the quill had almost touched the parchment when words appeared on it:

"_PUT THAT AWAY IMMEDIATELY!"_

Dan dropped his quill in surprise.

"Why?" he asked.

"_Because you would spoil everything we have worked for if you tainted this parchment with your ink!"_

"Why, what have you worked for?" Norbert asked in a drawling voice.

"_What have we worked for?" the parchment mused. "__We could show you, after all… just say the magic words."_

"The magic words?" the two boys exchanged confused looks.

"Er… show yourself!" Norbert tried.

"Reveal your magic!" Dan added.

"Open Sesame?"

"_Aparecium!"_

"Do something you damned…"

"Shhh… calm down, Norb," Dan hushed his friend who started to get really riled up. "This stupid little thing doesn't want to show us anything. Let's just leave it here… or sic the fanged frisbee on it and watch as it tears the parchment into little pieces?" he added with a mischievous grin.

Norbert's eyes flashed with delight. "I never thought a Potter could be like this… I thought you Potters were all saints, but I'm pleasantly disappointed."

Dan shook his head. "The only saint of us Potter children is my eldest sister Lily. The triplets are a bunch of little monsters and even my youngest sis, Lea, can drive my parents crazy… I for one, am far from being a saint. Lily always says that I'm utterly horrible. So I can solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Norbert grinned back, drawing his wand to sic the frizbee on the parchment, then suddenly gasped. "Look!" he pointed at a text that had appeared on the parchment.

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

"The Marauder's Map?" Daniel's eyes widened in surprise. "I can't believe it! I thought it had been destroyed long ago!"

"Why? What's the big deal about it?" his friend scrutinised the parchment with the four names on it.

"What's the big deal?" Dan snorted. "This is the coolest thing in the world! My dad used to own it for about a year, then Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, took it from him. He never got it back. He was quite unhappy about it, though, because this little thing here," he pointed his wand at the parchment, "helped him a lot in mischief-making."

"How did it help him?" Norbert wondered, absent-mindedly tapping the parchment with his wand.

As if answering, the parchment wiped the four names off itself to replace them by lines running out from the point where Norbert's wand's tip touched the map. The lines arranged themselves into a sophisticated map of the Hogwarts castle.

"Wicked!" exclaimed Norbert, seeing two dots standing in the room labelled 'purple room': the two dots had the tiny words 'Daniel Potter' and 'Norbert D. Malfoy' written above them.

Alas, there was a third dot approaching – a dot labelled 'Harry Potter'.

"Uh-oh… your dad," young Malfoy whispered.

"He hasn't rounded the corner yet," Dan perceived. "We have enough time to escape. C'mon."

The two boys ran out of the 'purple room'. (It had indeed been purple before it got painted forget-me-not-blue, but the staff members kept referring to it as the 'purple room', so the map also showed it with its old name.)

Dan didn't remember having run this fast in his whole life. He and Norbert managed to reach the staircase when Harry turned into the corridor.

"Damn, we left the door open!" Norbert swore as they hurried downstairs into the Slytherin common room.

"And? Dad doesn't know who has been there," Dan shrugged. "We're safe… and so is this little beauty," he squeezed the map to himself, as though it was the most precious treasure in the world.

"How came that your dad never found the map while he was living in that room?"

"I'm sure that this cabinet with the confiscated magical objects got placed in the room well after my parents graduated. The whole room must have been re-furnished several times. I mean, the bed got removed, for example…"

Norbert nodded as they reached the stonewall hiding the entrance to their common room. "_Venenum velox!"_

In the common room there wasn't a single person to be seen – the weather was too favouring to be inside.

The boys flopped down into the green-cushioned chairs in front of the crackling fire. While it was hot outside, the underground common room was still cold, so the fire was needed all the time.

Dan put the parchment on a small table to see whether he and young Malfoy were the only ones to be around. They were really alone.

"My dad told me a lot about himself using this map," he said. "I guess he never forgave that guy for having taken it from him."

"Had this thing been mine, I wouldn't have forgiven that Crouch guy, either," Norbert agreed. "By the way, who are these people: Moony, Bigfoot and… er, forgot…"

Daniel burst into laughter. "It's Padfoot, and he's called Sirius Black in normal life. Moony is non other than good old Professor Lupin, as for Prongs… he was my grandpa."

"James Potter?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. And what about this Wormtail? I guess I have heard his name somewhere."

"You must have… he was a death eater, just like your father. No insult, but…"

Norbert waved, laughing. "No insult taken. I'm perfectly aware what my father was. So is everyone else. You know… sometimes I still wonder how he can be still at large instead of sitting at Azkaban."

Young Potter shrugged. "Maybe he gave a huge donation to the Wizarding Orphans and that git of a Minister left him alone in exchange."

Norbert sniggered. "You're totally right. Fudge is the greatest git ever. I simply don't understand why people keep re-electing him."

"People have a knack of choosing what's the worst for them," Dan said seriously. "Take that Wormtail, for example. He also chose the worst: joined Voldemort. At least he redeemed himself at the end."

"How?"

"He sacrificed himself for my dad."

Norbert furrowed his brow. "Wormtail? I thought he was too much of a coward for such a thing."

"He was, but he changed at the end," Daniel looked into his friend's eyes a bit dubiously. "How do you know what he was like?"

"Heard it from father," young Malfoy shrugged, diverting his attention back to the map. "Tricky little thing, that's for sure. Without it, your dad would have caught us and Slytherin would have minus fifty points."

"Well, that wouldn't be that terrible, would it?" Dan chuckled. "Gryffindor started the school year with minus ten points because McGonagall didn't really tolerate Kevin beating up Lancelot."

The two boys spent the afternoon talking and laughing, and to Daniel's surprise, he started to be less broken down by the fact that he was a Slytherin.

By the time dinner was served, Dan's bad mood had all but disappeared.

Having had starved all day, Daniel ate as much of steak and kidney pudding for dinner that he got a serious stomach-ache.

All the other boys in his dorm were already asleep when he still couldn't close his eyes. He kept tossing and turning for hours.

At about midnight he started to feel so sick that he decided to go and find Madame Pomfrey and ask for something to help him with digestion. He also swore never to eat this much before going to bed.

He got out of his four-poster, put on his glasses and slipped into his slippers. As he grabbed the Marauder's Map, Abu woke up.

"Sshhh!" Dan pressed his index finger to his mouth, snatched up his wand and the map, and tiptoed out of the room.

* * * * *

After a bit of stair climbing, Daniel started to feel much better. Maybe all he needed was a bit of movement – maybe he didn't even need the school matron's help anymore.

He was just about to turn and go back into his dorm when a sudden thought came to his mind: why not visit the Mirror again?

He was only a hundred feet from the 'purple room', after all…

He cast a glance at the map to see to it that no one was around and walked up to the door. Although he and Norbert had left it open at lunchtime, now it was closed again.

"_Alohomora!" he whispered, placing the emphasis on the right place this time._

The door opened.

Dan put the map onto a table and rushed to the mirror – it wasn't covered with the purple sheet now.

He stared into it and felt half-surprised, half-disappointed. His mirror image looked very Harry Potterish, just like some hours earlier, and it still wore robes with the Gryffindor lion.

*That means I still want to be a Gryffindor.* he thought sourly. No matter how good a friend Norbert was, he still craved to be together with his cousins.

For a moment he imagined what it would be like to be in Gryffindor: he would not only have one friend, but several. He wouldn't feel as embarrassed about not being able to accomplish simple charms properly – in Gryffindor you were _allowed to be a bit clumsy, while in Slytherin it was an unforgivable sin… Had he been in Gryffindor, he wouldn't mind the Slytherins laughing at him because he could hate them in peace._

He furrowed his eyebrows. _Could he actually hate Norbert?_

Probably not.

Inexplicably to him, he never found young Malfoy unsympathetic. He couldn't put a finger on it, but felt some kind of a tie between the two of them. He just had no idea what that mysterious tie could be.

He couldn't ponder this, because someone cleared his throat behind him.

Daniel felt the blood freeze in his veins. He gulped and turned around slowly to see… his father.

Harry Potter was leaning to the doorframe in a nonchalant way, fondling Abu the monkey.

"Well?" he asked.

"Uh…" was all Dan managed to comment. "What is Abu doing here?"

"He followed you," Harry shrugged and Abu jumped down from his hands. "You know, I should take points from Slytherin now, but given that there are no points to take away…" he stepped closer with his hands clasped behind his back. "I believe it would seem stupid if both Gryffindor and Slytherin started the term with minus points, so we might dispense with it. As for your punishment, young man…"

"Dad, I mean… Professor Potter, I can explain it."

"Leave the professor part, we are between the two of us," Harry replied with a small smile. "However, I'd really like to hear your reasons for unlocking this door twice today, opening that cabinet, stealing the Map and coming back here now…"

Daniel blinked, confused. "How do you know about the Map?"

Harry pointed at the table. "First of all: you left it lying around, switched on, which was downright irresponsible of you. What if somebody…"

"I didn't know how to switch it off!" Dan cut in. "I don't even know how I actually activated it, how could I have know how to switch it off? … Er, sorry." he hung his head, realising how impolite it was to interrupt his father.

"I believe you must have accidentally said _I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good_ in order to activate it. As for switching it off, you have to say _Mischief managed!_" Harry replied with a stern expression. "And if you allow me, I'd like to continue. So, the first clue was the map lying around. The second one: when I saw that the door to this room was left open at lunchtime, I noticed that the door of this cabinet was also open. And what did I find in the cabinet? Dangerous and confiscated objects. Just like in Filch's room years and years ago…" a dreamy expression fell over Harry's face, remembering his little visit to the old caretaker's room in his second year at Hogwarts. "I didn't know where the map was hidden after the fake Moody took it from me, but it was quite sensible of the teachers to put it together with other confiscated objects… Dumbledore knew that the map was mine, but he might have thought it would be too much to give it back to me… that it would look like he was favouring me and letting me do more rule-breaking." he shrugged. "I guess Dumbledore was right not to give it back to me… So when I saw the door of this cabinet open and realised that whoever had been here, managed to escape just in time… it was obvious that the map had been found. I knew that the door had been locked because I saw it on my way to the Great Hall, and I presumed that the 'perpetrators' must have left the room mere seconds before I arrived here, especially because I heard the pattering of feet… you must have just got out of sight when I arrived, but your footsteps still echoed in the corridor. You couldn't have escaped without knowing that someone was coming. And where could you know it from? The Map." seeing his son's appalled expression, Harry had to laugh. "Daniel… I was using this parchment for a whole year and managed to escape from Snape with its help several times."

"But… how did you know that it was _me who had been here at lunchtime?"_

Harry pulled an elegant eagle feather quill out of his robe-pocket. "You accidentally left this here. A luck that it was me who found it, not say, Snape."

Daniel took the quill from his father, cursing his own stupidity – he had dropped it in surprise when the Map had 'shouted' at him.

The quill even had his name carved into it – he had received it from Harry for his birthday.

He pocketed it with an embarrassed blush. "Thanks, dad."

Harry nodded. "Just an advice: next time you decide to go for a night-time stroll, always make sure that your monkey does not follow you around because that might be conspicuous for the teachers, and always keep one of your eyes on the map so that you won't get nasty surprises."

"Does that mean that I can keep it?" Dan's face lit up.

Harry's lips tucked into a smirk. "I don't think I could use it as well as you could. As a teacher, I should confiscate it, of course, but as an old marauder I can only encourage you to use it. Should any other teacher catch you hiding it in your pocket, I _will have no idea where you got it. Understood?"_

"Certainly," Dan nodded eagerly. "You have no idea that I found the map."

"All right. Use it, but try and stay out of trouble."

Dan grinned. "Being your son, I doubt I _can_ stay out of trouble."

"At least try," Harry said, now wearing a bit more serious expression. "As for the mirror…"

"I… saw myself being a great wizard… and a Gryffindor, like you," Dan blurted out, feeling that he had to tell someone – someone, who wasn't another Slytherin... and who could understand him better, than his own father?

"As a great Gryffindor wizard?" Harry echoed him.

"Yeah…" Dan hung his head. "But it will always remain that way… just a desire, never reality."

"Well, partly," Harry replied, stepping next to his son. Now both of them were looking at the mirror, seeing their normal images. The mirror couldn't show the desires of more than one person at once, after all.

"Partly?" Dan asked.

"Yes," his father nodded, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. "You can't change the house you have been sorted into, but you can still become a great wizard."

"How?" Dan sighed. "I don't have enough talent and never will."

"Talent isn't everything," Harry shook his head. "Many talented wizards wasted their talents away, and others who weren't so gifted, turned out to be really great."

"Name one," the boy said, resigned.

"Neville Longbottom, for instance," Harry replied. "You couldn't find a better example. I tell you he wasn't any more gifted than you are, and look what he's become! A famous Quidditch player and now a professor."

The boy wrinkled his nose. "I guess I should be feeling better now… but I don't."

"I haven't told you this to console you, son," Harry said sternly. "I told you this so that you'd remember it when the time comes. And it shall come."

Daniel didn't really see the point, but he trusted his father to tell him wise and reasonable things. Then again… could a father/teacher who let his son/student use an aid to rule breaking be considered wise and reasonable?

"Dad…" the boy spoke up finally. "What do you see if you look into this mirror?"

"For the time being… the two of us."

Dan was just about to step aside to let Harry face his deepest desires alone, but Harry kept him in place with his hands resting on Dan's shoulders.

"I don't want to look into it anymore. Neither should you. Many wasted away and even went mad in front of this mirror."

"Did they?" the boy gasped.

"Yeah. To quote the words of a very wise man… it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Never forget this, son."

The boy nodded, though somewhat insecurely. "So, you are afraid of going mad?"

"Me? No," Harry managed a small smile. "There are way too many things I'd wish for… too many things I wish never happened… it's not me who'd go crazy, but the mirror, trying to show all my greatest desires."

Daniel knew that his father considered the topic closed and stepped away from the mirror. "Oh, look at him!" he pointed at Abu who was posing in front of the mirror, salivating. "I bet he sees himself eating a huge banana split!" he bent down to grab the monkey that started to squeak, not wanting to leave the mirror and his banana split. "Oh, come on, Abu!"

"I told you he was a troublemaker," Harry said. "You should have left him at home."

"No way. The poor thing would miss me… wouldn't you, Abu?" Dan caressed the monkey that gave him an 'I'm missing my banana-split more than you'-expression. "And I promise I won't come back here, " he added, stifling a yawn.

"That's more like it," Harry handed him the parchment. "And now, off to bed, young marauder!"

"What about my punishment?" Dan raised an eyebrow.

Harry shook his head, laughing. "Out with you, little tyke. And keep an eye on the map if you don't want to run into Snape!"

**A/N**: thanks to Indigo Ziona for her help on chemistry – I've always sucked at that subject.

Note that I'm not familiar with class-length in Great Britain, I just assumed that classes had to be at least 60 minutes long and that the kids needed some break between two classes. I decided that the Slytherins didn't have lessons in the afternoon – I know how much it sucks having to sit at classes even in the afternoon, and I wanted to be gracious to my dear Slytherins :) I also assumed that the students had one particular class only once a week. I didn't want to set up a more complicated timetable.

_Laurel Hoffman:_ I also like Draco. 

_Squalldaman_: the Internet incarnation of Rowling? Noooo… but it sounds very flattering, thanks! :)

_King Jasbon_: no, sorry, in my fic Harry won't be the heir of Slytherin, because I don't believe he could be. Remember, Voldemort was the last heir of Slytherin – at least according to Rowling. I don't know any Harry-is-the-heir-of-Slytherin fics, sorry, I have never read any. No, there is no heir of Voldemort. I don't think he ever had a son/daughter.

_Katie Bell_: you'll see Ginny's reaction in the next chapter. She won't be too happy, I tell you.

_jennaration_: sure, you are going to find out why he got into Slytherin – in chapter 28 :) Next time if you find grammar mistakes, would you be so kind and point them out to me? I'd like to learn from my mistakes.

_puppy duck_: I feel special to be the first author whom you have ever sent a review. Thanks :)

_Lily_: Dannie is going to be all right… at the end of the fic. But until then he'll have to go through a lot – and most things won't be pleasant for him. 

_AmandaPanda_: Harry and Daniel will get to know why Dan got into Slytherin at the same time, in chapter 28.

_makulit:_ that might be a reason, but it isn't the real reason.

_Houou_: I'm sure that Brannagh could have played Lupin as well, but he is good enough as Lockhart, isn't he?

_Cute Little Piccolo:_ better than the others? Wow, I never thought :) In fact I feared that people wouldn't like chapter 4 that much – I'm glad they still did.

_Derkaun Zarion_: no, in the books it wasn't mentioned which house Dumbledore went to, but in an interview Rowling said that Albus had been a Gryffindor.

_C-chan_: sorry, but I'm no LotR fan at all. Never really liked it. I'm glad your sis also likes my fic :)

_goldenstar555_: LOL at the image of Dan redecorating the Slytherin chambers :)

_Jeanine23Dr_: how is Dumbledore sure that Dan won't turn to the dark side? Hm… maybe he isn't sure just wanted to comfort Harry. Dunno. One can never know Albus Dumbledore enough. He is the most enigmatic guy I know.

_Saphron:_ yes, you'll see quite a lot about the Minerva reaction. And yes, there will be some Snape/Dan interaction as well. How do I motivate myself to write the build-up chapters? Well… I didn't need much motivation when writing this fic – I just had to think of chapters 27-29 (the wicked part of the story that will make my readers want to send me to hell), and I was already motivated to do the build-up.

_zzxm_: yeah, pooooor Dan :)

_AClodHoppingElf_: I wouldn't mind being in Slytherin, either. There's just one reason I wouldn't want to be one: the Slytherin dungeons are very cold and I hate being cold. My mum keeps telling me that in my former life I must have lived in Africa :)

_K. C. Hunter_: I'm glad you liked the Aberforth part.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: oh, but yes, I do.

_Altec_: not all Slytherins are mean, you'll see that they aren't.

_Toby Haine_: sure, of course there's a good reason! In this fic 80% of the events have a good reason.

_Rose_: shame that there are so few Gildy fans out there :( He deserves to be loved! Goooo Gildy!

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: being ambitious could be a reason for Dan getting into Slytherin, but the real reason is something else. No, it has nothing to do with the 1000 years.

_Tenshi_: I'm happy :)

_2Coolio_: you can never know me enough :)

_Rab:_ why did I choose Seattle? It was a random choice, really. I could as well have chosen any other city/town. Read my answer to Cassandra Anthemyst.

_apple-pie_: you have the Inner Eye :)

_Ice Kitten_: no, I haven't seen the movie yet. I'm going to see it in a week. No, his family in Gryffindor won't ignore Dan.

_Any last requests_: what kinds of festivities did your school have? Well, hopefully the Hogwarts festivities will be nice enough :)

_the coffee fiend:_ thanks for the correction.

_Indigo Ziona_: no, Valentine isn't like Hermione at all. I'm glad you like Norbert's name :)

_Alexander Pheonix_: you asked me to stop putting Harry through all this. All what? I haven't even started putting him through things! He isn't even miserable yet – at least not compared to what he's going to be like… dark times are coming for our poor Harry.

_Nefertiri:_ sure, Dan will have more than one Slytherin friends, not just Norbert.

_rebkos_: yes, I hope it will be interesting :)

_Wood's secret lover_: no idea what happened to Crookshanks, but he won't put in an appearance in the story. Lockhart couldn't have been a Hufflepuff, because Hufflepuffs are generous and loyal, and Gilderoy isn't. Aberforth as a Ravenclaw? I can't imagine him there – he isn't exactly bright, is he? He's cute and mischievous, but not too clever.

_X-Tow-Naga_: Tom Parris and John Nash will be very side-characters. It's not Nevile, but Neville. I just wanted to have a first Snape/Dan interaction, and for that I needed Snape to guide the firsties down into the dungeons instead of the prefects. Thanks for the Peeves' verse correction, I'm still having difficulties with the conditional. Yes, perhaps the American Dumbledores didn't know that Aberforth was still alive. The third time when Harry wore the hat was when he slammed it onto his head in the Chamber of Secrets and the hat dropped the sword onto his head. If I asked people how many times Harry had worn the hat, I bet that 95% would say that twice :) But no, it was three times. My, my, you seem to be a little biologist! Sorry, I'm not and I don't care for genetics that much, since they are not essential for the plot. Rest assured that Daniel has nothing of Voldemort in him, I swear he has nothing. I know the switched order of names, since we in Hungary also have it: I'm Hartman Agnes, but in English I would be Agnes Hartman. 

_notebook girl_: perhaps:)) Nice to see you again!

_Lana Riddle_: and this chapter wasn't even the longest, it was just 15.5 Word pages. Chapter 18 will be the longest with exactly 18 Word pages.

_Black Ice_: no, Dan being a Slytherin has nothing to do with the goldfish. This fic will only be about this school year, so you won't see more Potters at Hogwarts.

_seashell_: of course I have planned it all out. You have interesting idea there, but you're on the wrong track.

_LilGinny_: you are free to imagine that Norbert's wearing leather under his robes :)

_dragon tiger_: I do hope it's gonna be brilliant. But only I know what is going to be brilliant about it – hopefully all my readers will find something in chapter 27 absolutely brilliant – I was very proud of myself when I made that up, but you'll have to wait a 'bit' for that chapter. Yes, please, tell me when you upload your next generation fic. I'd like to read it, but I'm sorry to say that I cannot read your current fic, because I don't know Night World at all, and if I don't know something, I cannot judge it. I'm glad you like my art at GTnet, more pics are to come in the near future, because I've asked my friend to scan some new ones. Hope you'll like them.

_sabby_: well, Dan and Norb will do funny and dangerous stuff, but they won't exactly be like Gred and Forge. The story will be mainly about Daniel, but lots of things will be about Harry, Ginny, Albus, Snape, Draco, Norbert, the Weasley kids and Gilda Lockhart.

_SiriDragon_: I feel bad for Dan, too :)

_Princess Ginny_: I don't remember your mail address, sorry. Yes, lots of evil things are to happen.

_Allie:_ here's more :)

_Waldomier_: thrice means three times.

_Embyr Black:_ yes, I do have my reasons.

_Kristen Michelle_: no, Snape won't get even nastier… just almost :)

_Pamela-potter-24_: see, Dan's really depressed. The poor thing.

_Lady Schezar_: yes, Potter and Malfoy are going to be friends in this fic. But not _Harry _Potter and not _Draco_ Malfoy :)

_Cyclo:_ P.E. won't be that important in the fic, don't worry. I just had to make up a new subject to be able to bring my beloved Gildy back to Hogwarts :)

_Lavendar Brown_: sorry, but I'm going to keep the answers to reviews on the bottom. I got bored with them on the top. I decided to change profile – I'm studying PR and I've learned about profile-changes and decided to use a bit of it :)

_Sky_: yes, from a certain point of view, the story will be like a roller-coaster – ups and downs, ups and downs…

_Eclectus_: I hope you did well in your test. I don't think that Rita is a death eater, but I agree that she must have been in Slytherin.

_jasper_: certainly I'm going to give my reasons for everything that happens in the story (not only for putting Dan in Slytherin.). Everything will be explained, I promise.

_Dauphin:_ I guess I'm never going to understand Chinese names :)

_Zenon Lee_: I didn't think of putting Muggle-borns into Slytherin. About Gildy not being a death eater – well, not all Slytherins are death eaters and not all death eaters are Slytherins (I guess Pettigrew was a Gryffindor). How would Harry handle Charms? Pretty well, I guess. He had always been good at it (with the exception of the Summoning Charm, but he mastered that one, too). Yes, this story will be the darkest I have ever written. I hope I haven't scared you away :)

_unknown reviewer_: I envy you. Even you got to see the movie one week before me. Btw, you could write a random name, you don't need to sign in at all, just make up a name. It'd be nice to call you something else than 'unknown reviewer' or 'reviewer with no name'.

_Desiree:_ I'm glad you've grown to like the 'Dan in Slytherin' idea.

_Lyny_: no, Norbert isn't a thing like Colin. James Lupin, on the other hand, will be very much like him (but he won't be important, only for a very short scene near the end). Yes, you'll see quite a bit of Lily, but only in the second half of the story. She's not important yet, but will be, later. By Mr Bean's Christmas do you mean that episode in which he goes to a shopping mall and keeps bouncing Christmas-tree orbs off the ground and threatens the Virgin Mary with a T-Rex? I loved that episode, very funny. 

_kryptKnight_: no, Norbert's not gay at all. He'll prove it very clearly in chapter 15.

_star queen:_ The Two Towers come to Hungary in January, since we'll only have Harry Potter two in December, and it's quite reasonable not to start playing the two movies at once.

_Neus:_ who would win in a game of chess – Ron or Draco? Well… Ron, of course :)

_CandyGurl83_: Snape won't treat Dan so terribly, don't worry.

_Aimee:_ yes, the hat's motives will be revealed… in chapter 28. Julie Dumbledore is just a little blurb in the plot, not really important – so don't worry, she's by no means a Mary Sue.

_WolfEyes:_ no, the serpents that seemed to be moving didn't refer to Dan being a Parselmouth – as he ISN'T one. I just thought it'd look cool if the serpents seemed to be moving. I haven't seen the movie yet, and I haven't taken the spiralling staircase from there – I took it from CoS, the book. Yes, Dobby will appear in this story.

_Myr Halcyon:_ no, you aren't wasting my time. But I totally understand if you only review when you feel like saying something. I hope that most chapters will make you feel like saying something, even if that's only critic :)


	6. Home, sweet Hogsmeade

A/N: FINALLY I'VE SEEN THE MOVIE!!! 

Yay, it was so wonderful! Lockhart was simply perfect! That Lockhart painting in which Lockhart was painting Lockhart was… wow. Hilarious. 

Ginny was very cute, though she should have had more role. First I hated Dobby, now I like him a lot. I think that putting the sock into the diary was better than putting the diary into the book.

The Quidditch match was cool again, but I think that the first was better. But Harry's boneless arm was so hilarious again!

The tart falling on Mrs Mason's head was superb, better than in the book, so was Vernon falling out of the window :)

I laughed so hard when Harry as Crabbe left his glasses on, Draco asked why, Harry said: I was reading, and Draco asked: you can read? Hahahaha!

Tom Riddle couldn't have been better. Fabulous. The whole chamber scene was breathtaking, the only thing I didn't like in it was that Fawkes healed Harry AFTER Riddle was gone, not BEFORE it, like in the book.

The duel between Gildy and Snape was cool, though I didn't like Snape that much in CoS, because he got fat. 

Molly Weasley was also perfect, but I didn't like Arthur at all. Arthur was the only character I didn't like.

Lucius rulez, simply wonderful, that guy.

The Hermione-Ron handshake at the end was a very clear reference for a future Ron/Herm relationship, so let the H/Hr shippers say anything they want, they aren't right!

The cheering-Hagrid was way too cheesy, but cute nevertheless.

The spiders… wow. I loved Ron when he kept whimpering all along in the forest, pointing upwards. 

The Harry-in-the-diary scene looked cool with the black and white colours, only Harry being colourful. 

I liked McGonagall much more in this movie than in the first one. 

Pity that there was still no Peeves, though.

The Parseltongue sounded terrific, but I think they should have written what Harry and Riddle were saying. Of course we know it from the book, but those who haven't read it, didn't have the slightest idea what was told there.

Double kudos to John Williams for the wonderful score.

My very fave scene: the one AFTER THE CREDITS. Have you seen it? All other people had already left the movie when mum and I were still waiting for it, and it was worth! The most superb scene in the whole movie. If you missed it, then next time wait for it, even thought the credits are very long. It's really worth the wait!

Chapter 6 

**Home, sweet Hogsmeade **

"Ooooh, I can't believe it's weekend already!" Daniel sighed happily, stretching on the grass near the lake, watching as the wind chased small, fluffy clouds across the sky. The weather was just as wonderful as the day before – as though it had been still August and not September.

"Yeah, it's cool that we had only one day to study before weekend," nodded his cousin, Kevin. "September the first should always be a Thursday or Friday, so that we can enjoy freedom right after we arrive at Hogwarts. By the way, where's your little Slytherin friend, Norbert?"

"In the library," Dan replied. "He said he wanted to look up some potion," he added with a grimace.

"Already studying for Snape's class? That isn't until next Friday!" Valentine said, scandalised. "Be careful with this guy, Dan, or he'll turn you into a Snape lover!"

"I don't think I'm in any danger of becoming Snape's fan," young Potter smirked.

"Still… he's so creepy!" Viviane commented. "He looks like… a vampire."

"A vampire? Norbert?" Daniel laughed. "Ridiculous."

"Not at all," Valentine spoke up. "It is common knowledge that the Malfoys descend from vampires. That's why they are so pale…"

"We aren't interested in the Malfoy family tree," Kevin grunted. "Anyway, Dan… you should hang a clove of garlic on your dorm's wall and keep a sharp-ended wooden peg on your bedside table… just in case."

Daniel waved impatiently. "C'mon, guys, Norbert's not dangerous. He's a Malfoy, all right, but he's downright nice. He promised me to help me whenever I have difficulties with certain charms – he'll practice them with me. When other people laughed at me yesterday… he defended me and proved that he was a good friend, so leave him alone, will ya?"

"All right," Val shrugged, watching as the giant squid lazily floated on the water's surface. "But don't tell us that we didn't admonish you if this Malfoy stabs you in the back!"

"He won't. I feel it," Daniel said calmly.

"Why are you so sure?"

"I don't know… there's something in him that makes me trust him… something that I cannot explain. As though I had always known him… it must sound silly, but that's what I feel," Dan shook his head, seeing his father cross the Hogwarts grounds, heading for Hogsmeade. Harry waved and the children waved back.

"Where's Uncle Harry going?" Kevin asked.

"Home. To visit mum and my siblings," Dan replied. "…and to tell mum that I have been sorted into Slytherin, I presume."

"Why, hasn't he sent her an owl yet?"

"I don't think so. This is something he'd rather tell mum in person," young Potter said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I hope mum won't have a nervous breakdown…" seeing the sympathy on his cousins' faces, Dan decided to change topic. "I haven't even told you about my adventure last night!"

"What adventure?" Kevin asked excitedly. "You weren't wandering around the corridors at the dead of night, were you?"

"That's exactly what I was doing…" Dan grinned, pulling out something from his robe pocket. "…with the help of this."

Kevin examined the parchment that Daniel had rolled out on the grass. "What's this?"

Daniel cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

Kevin's, Vivian's and Valentine's eyes widened as the parchment suddenly filled with criss-crossing lines, showing the ground-plan of the castle and the Hogwarts grounds. There were four little dots sitting by the lake and one slightly bigger dot labelled 'giant squid' swimming in the lake.

"Wicked! The Marauder's Map!" Kevin gasped.

As all four of them put their heads together to have a good view of the map, they saw that there were not only four dots sitting by the lake, but also two other dots approaching – two dots labelled 'Lily Potter' and 'Lancelot Weasley'.

"Exactly whom we need now!" Kevin groaned as Daniel slipped the parchment into his robe pocket. The Marauder's Map didn't concern anyone, but the four of them. Lily would surely tell on them and Lancelot would _definitely_ tell on them if he knew what they were hiding. 

Lily and Lancelot flopped down on the grass, next to the four of them.

"Hullo, sis," Daniel tried to look nonchalant. "You look particularly pretty today."

Lily crossed her arms, eyeing her little brother with a great deal of suspicion. "What is it, Daniel?"

"What is what?" Dan gave her an angelic-innocent expression.

"You aren't the type to be this nice to me this early in the morning," his sister said. "You must be hiding something…"

"Hiding something?" Kevin laughed. "Yes, Lily, he's hiding the hideous secret that… he has fallen in love with Professor Snape yesterday."

Lily gave Kevin a reproachful look, then turned to her brother. "Really, what was your first Potions class like?"

"Shitty," Dan shrugged. "Snape picks on me."

"Language, Daniel," Lancelot said, but no one listened.

"He picks on me, too," Viv and Val said in unison.

"And on me, either," Kevin added. "But you surely know him already, don't you, Lil? He is picking on you, too, isn't he?"

Lily looked contemplative for a minute. "Not really. I don't know why, but… he's never been nasty to me. On the contrary… he seems to be a little bit nicer to me than to the others… no idea why."

"Maybe because you could tell him what you got if you added bat-blood and phoenix tears to an infusion of fluxweed?" Vivian raised an eyebrow.

"Adding what to what?" Lily laughed in a confused way.

"You don't know it?" Lancelot crossed his arms. "Lily, I'm appalled! I always thought you were good at Potions!"

"No, I'm not," Lily flushed. "But Chris is, and he helps me whenever I need it."

"Oooooh, Chris!" Dan clutched at his heart, mimicking an enamoured girl.

"Talk of the devil!" Kevin pointed at two people walking down the lane from the castle, holding hands: Christopher Wood and Yvette Weasley.

Daniel cast a sideways glance at his sister who looked petrified. She had turned as pale as though all the blood had run out of her face.

"I've got to go," she jumped up and hurried back to the castle, but avoided the path of Christopher and Yvette.

"Even Mr. Dandy Wood is good for something… he rid us of my sister," Daniel grinned. 

"Yeah, he should rid us of Lance as well," Kevin commented.

"Eat dung, Kevin," Lancelot stood up to leave.

"Language, Lance!" Dan, Kevin and the twins said in chorus.

As Percy's son departed, Daniel pulled the map out of his robe-pocket again.

"So, tell me, how did you come by this little beauty?" Kevin inquired. "My dads sang endless praises about this… they also said it was confiscated from Uncle Harry."

"That's right," Dan nodded. "But I found it yesterday and we can use it whenever we want."

Viv and Val exchanged impish grins, already seeing in their mind's eye what they'd be doing with the help of such a map.

"We've got to be very careful with this, though… Uncle Harry and mum know how this works," Viviane said.

"Don't worry about my dad," young Potter smiled. "We have his permission."

"What?" Valentine gasped. "Uncle Harry knows that you have the map and lets you keep it?"

"Yeah."

"Your dad's so cool, Dan!" Viv clasped her hands. "But I guess our dad would also let us use it, wouldn't he?" she turned to her twin, who nodded. "Anyway mum mustn't get to know about it, that's for sure."

"So, guys, when should we first use it?" Kevin asked, eager to do some rule-breaking as soon as possible. He really couldn't have denied being the son of Fred and George…

"I guess the weekend would provide a good opportunity…" Dan said. "We could go to Hogsmeade and buy stuff in Honeydukes…"

"…and invite Davie as well!" Kevin added, pointing at their second-cousin, David Dursley, who was walking in their direction.

"We can't go to Honeydukes, it's closed and up for sale," Valentine said.

"WHAT???" the two boys gaped. "NO!"

"Yes," Viviane sighed. "We were so sad when it closed… and so was dad."

"So, should we let Davie in on our secret?" Viviane asked as young Dursley was coming closer and closer.

"I think we should not," Dan said.

"Why not?" the twins asked. "He'd be a great marauder!"

"No doubt of that, but he loves Lily and would spill the beans to her sooner or later."

"What?" Kevin gaped. "He _loves Lily?"_

"Yes," Daniel sighed, hiding the map again. "The poor guy. Unrequited love sucks."

"Hey, guys!" David sat down on the grass. "What is this gloominess, eh?"

"Come and join the Club of Hopeless Lovers, Davie," Kevin smirked.

"What are you talking about?" the Dursley boy asked, knitting his blonde eyebrows.

"You and Lily…" Viviane started.

"…Dan and that Ravenclaw chick…" Kevin continued.

"She's no chick, her name is Liu!" Dan retorted.

"I guess you two have a good topic to discuss," Kevin said, standing up. "Wanna go and nick some second breakfast from the kitchen, girls? My dads told me how to get there."

The twins hopped up and joined him.

"We'll talk about the you-know-what later, Dan," Val said.

"About the what?" David blinked, his chubby face radiating interest.

"Nothing," his second-cousin shook his head. "Tell me, Dave, how long have you loved my sister?"

"How long have you loved that Ravenclaw chick?" Davie countered.

The two boys exchanged a smirk. "Care to join them in the kitchen?"

"'Course I do!"

With that, they hurried after the others.

* * * * *

Harry decided to drink a mug of butterbeer in _The Three Broomsticks before apparating home – he needed a bit of pick-me-up in order to be able to stand face to face with Ginny and tell her (as nonchalantly as possible) that Daniel had become a Slytherin._

Madame Rosmerta, at the age of sixty, still looked as though she had only been 35. She and Sirius had been in some kind of a relationship for about a decade now – a relationship that meant that Sirius spent about one week in a month at Hogsmeade with Rosie.

Sometimes Harry thought it was a pity that Rosie and Sirius didn't have children (Sirius would have made a wonderful father), but if he thought it over and over, he had to admit that six children at Black Manor were more than enough. On the other hand – if Madame Rosmerta had spent her time raising kids, who would have run the pub?

Harry looked around in _The Three Broomsticks and immediately spotted a familiar figure: Gabrielle Delacour. The girl whom he had rescued from the Hogwarts lake seventeen years earlier now was a young woman – and an extremely pretty woman at that._

She also noticed Harry at once and came over to his table.

"Hi, 'Arry."

"Hullo, Gabie. Long time, no see."

"Yeah," she nodded, smiling. Harry had the impression that she was even more charming than her sister Fleur. Her face was not as thin and pointed as Fleur's, it was rather round like that of a baby. With her wavy blonde hair and huge blue eyes she reminded him of the Barbie dolls that his female classmates in the primary school used to play with. While Fleur had always been the cold beauty – an elaborate and glittering ice-sculpture -, Gabrielle was the sunray that melted the ice… she seemed to have more heart.

"Um, what are you doing around here?" Harry asked.

"I'm running Fleur's florists' shop in 'er absence," she replied. "I might stay for a while even after she returns."

"Great, then we'll see each other quite often." 

"Vairy possibly," she smiled. "'Arry… I guess I 'aven't even thanked you for saving my life…" she turned pink. "I'm ashamed. I should 'ave thanked you ages ago."

With her rosy expression she looked endearingly sweet.

"You have thanked me already, Gabrielle," he answered. "With that stare you gave me when Ron and I fished you out of the lake… I saw the gratitude in your eyes. Sometimes you don't need words to tell someone what you feel."

"You are so understanding, 'Arry," she sighed. "I wish every man could be like you…" a dreamy expression fell over her face as she propped her chin into her palms, gazing out the window – and Harry saw what she was goggling with such infatuation: a huge white-marble building with tall pillars and a triangle-shaped façade bearing the words _Malfoy & Malfoy._

Not much later Harry said good-bye to Ms. Delacour and stood up from the table. On his way to the door he was surprised to see Bert Bradley, the new Hogwarts caretaker sitting at a table, deeply immersed in reading a book titled _'From Chemistry to Potion-making'._

Harry had no idea what _anyone (besides Snape) could find interesting in Potions, so he just shook his head in disbelief and left the pub. _

* * * * *

Harry apparated at the hall of Black Manor. Barely did he make two steps when he got caught in some kind of invisible trap that hung him from the ceiling, upside down.

As he started to look for his wand, three small figures stormed down the stairs, waving sticks, imitating to be holding real wands.

"We got you this time, evil death eater!" one of the three forms shouted.

"Yes, you cannot escape us!" the second one added.

"We are going to set the dementors on you!" the third one – a female – shouted eagerly.

Harry had a hard time finding his wand, because he was practically doubling up with laughter – as much as you can double up when being suspended by your ankles. He flipped his wand and in the next instant he was standing on his feet with crossed arms, trying to look reprimanding. He didn't manage.

The three kids, however, didn't leave the 'evil death eater' alone.

"You are coming with us to Cornelia Fudge, the Ministress of Magic!" Rose Potter said resolutely, pointing her 'wand' at Harry.

"What kind of way is this to greet your poor father?" Harry knitted his eyebrows.

"You aren't allowed to speak, you filthy death eater!" Robert said.

"We are taking you before the Magical Law Enforcement!" Richard added. "Move!"

Harry rolled his eyes, succumbing to the thought that his triplets' new pastime was playing aurors. When those three got something into their heads, there was no force on Earth to dissuade them…

So the patient father let his children guide him into a nearby room, where little Lea was sitting in a huge chair that would have been big enough for Hagrid. 

The triplets bowed before the 'Ministress of Magic' who motioned them with a graceful movement of her small hand. "Rise, my faithful aurors."

"Your excellence… we have caught this evil death eater lurking in the hall of Black Manor," Richie stepped forward. "What should we do with him?"

"Take him to Azkaban!" Lea said sternly.

"Should we torture him?" Rose suggested eagerly.

"Er… rather not," Lea shook her head, her long, black locks flipping around her head. When she finished the head shaking, her hair looked just as messy as her father's. She was so cute that the 'prisoner's heart melted. 

"Should we also take his wand, Lady Fudge?" Robert asked.

The 'Ministress' seemed shocked. "But… then… how will he persuade the dementors not to kiss him?" her huge green eyes filled with tears. "I don't want the dementors to kiss daddy!" she jumped down from the enormous chair and ran up to Harry, flinging her little arms around his legs. "I won't let them hurt you, daddy!"

"Thank you, princess," Harry scooped her up, fighting down the urge to laugh at his youngest daughter's naivety. It was downright endearing. 

"I'm no princess," Lea sniffed. "I'm Ministress of Magic."

"But not a good one," Rose wrinkled her freckled nose. "A Ministress who has mercy on a death eater, should be replaced. I move for a vote of no confidence in the current Ministress for Magic!"

"Where did you learn expressions like that?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"From Uncle Percy, of course," Rob shrugged.

"Oh, of course," Harry rolled his eyes. "So, what is my sentence, oh great aurors?"

"I guess we might as well dispense with sending you to Azkaban for this once, dad," Richard replied.

"How good for me," Harry sighed and headed upstairs with Lea in his arms. "Where's your mother? And Sirius?"

"Ginny's still asleep, I presume," came the voice of Sirius from the kids' playing room. "Hi, Harry."

"Hello, godfather," the two men shook hands. 

"You look… red. What happened to you?" Sirius asked.

"I suppose all the blood rushed into my face when my dear little auror kids hung me from the ceiling. Really…" he turned to the triplets. "Where have you learned such a trap-charm?"

Sirius flushed. "I guess that's my fault. We were having a bit of fun with the kids."

"Fun, eh?" Harry furrowed his brow. "Do you greet all guests by suspending them from the ceiling by their ankles?"

Sirius shrugged. "Not really. The children reserve this kind of treatment especially for you… but don't think that you're the only one suffering in this house!" he added hastily before Harry could comment on the 'treatment reserved only for him'.

"Who else?"

"Well… yesterday they were playing dragon-tamers, for instance… and I had to play the dragon," Sirius admitted.

"You were quite a good little Norbert," Rose grinned.

"Norbert?" Harry's expression changed from annoyed to something else… something unreadable.

"What is it, Harry?" his godfather asked, concerned.

"Come, I'll tell you," the young Charms professor said. "You four go and play something and don't disturb us."

"Okay, let's get Dinky from the kitchen! She'll be the evil hag who robbed Gringotts, and we are going to arrest her!" Robert announced.

"Great!" Rose clasped her hands and the triplets were off to the kitchens.

"Wait for meeee!" little Lea ran after them as fast as her small legs could carry her.

As soon as the children's laughter died away, Harry and Sirius took seats on a sofa.

"So tell me, what's bothering you?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Daniel got sorted into Slytherin."

There was a little yelp and the two men turned around to see Virginia Potter, still in her night gown, standing in the door with a hand pressed onto her chest.

"Gin!" Harry hurried up to her and gathered her into a hug.

"Harry… did I… did I hear it well?" she croaked, disentangling herself from his embrace.

"I'm sorry, but you did, dearest," her husband replied, leading her up to the sofa.

"How… how could this happen?" she asked, practically shaking. "I mean… why?"

"That is something no one knows," Harry shook his head. "I asked Dumbledore, but he has no idea, and I asked the Sorting Hat that refused to answer."

"I don't like this," Sirius commented.

"Why? Do you think I do?" Harry replied in a sarcastic tone. 

"Snape is his head of house, then!" Ginny breathed as the realisation struck her.

"Yes, Snape is his head of house and a Malfoy is his new best friend," her husband replied.

"A Malfoy?????" Ginny and Sirius gasped.

"Yeah… his name is Norbert," Harry shrugged and decided not to add that this boy gave him the creeps. It was stupid, after all, to get nervous because of a child… even if that child was a Slytherin, moreover a Malfoy.

Suddenly a bang came from the kitchen – the triplets might have used rather drastic methods to arrest poor Dinky.

"I'll go and have a look at them before they make the whole building tumble down," Sirius said and apparated down into the kitchen.

Husband and wife were left alone.

Harry pulled Ginny into a tight embrace, kissing her temple.

"What… what will be of my baby Dan in Slytherin?" she sniffed.

"He's no baby anymore," Harry rubbed her back reassuringly. "He'll manage it, believe me. He's strong as a lion."

"A lion?" she gave him a sad smile. "See, you named him after a lion and he still became a Slytherin."

"Yeah… how ironic, isn't it?" Harry shook his head. "It won't be easy for him in Slytherin, that's for sure, but he'll manage it. Snape won't dare be too nasty to him as long as I'm around."

Ginny let out a small chuckle. "I'd like to see Professor Snape treating Professor Potter as an equal."

Harry's mouth tucked into a smirk. "Uh-huh… but that wouldn't be the funniest thing to see… I'd like to see Snape treating _Neville_ as an equal."

"Neville?"

"Oh, of course you don't know. Imagine, Neville is the new Flying Professor and Quidditch referee."

"I can't believe it!" Ginny's face lit up. "Neville! That's really wonderful! Ron, Seamus and Dean should also go to teach at Hogwarts and the old team would be together again."

"Ah, speaking of the old team… guess who else came back to teach?!"

"Who?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart."

Ginny gave her hubby an incredulous stare. "Gilderoy? But what is he teaching? Defence Against the Dark Arts is taught by Remus, isn't it?"

"Gilderoy teaches a very new subject – P.E."

"What?"

"Physical Education. A Muggle subject, but Dumbledore decided that it was necessary. According to him all the students need a bit of movement, and I can only agree. But his choice of teacher… ehm… Anyway, you know that all of Gilderoy Lockhart's Beauty Salons have aerobics training among their services, so Gilderoy knows a lot about stuff like that… "

"I understand," Ginny smiled. "Have you had breakfast yet? I'm starving."

* * * * *

Harry spent a nice, more or less calm day playing with his children. After having had to play a rampaging reindeer that got caught by four valiant reindeer-tamers, the family sat down to have lunch, served by their house-elf, Dinky.

The meal was really delicious, but the kids kept complaining that dessert was missing.

"Dinky is doing this all the time nowadays!" Richard said indignantly. "She keeps forgetting her duties! Yesterday she forgot to serve dinner! Today she forgot the dessert!"

"Yes, and she keeps forgetting to wash our socks and clean the owls' cages!" Rose added.

"Dad, you've got to knock some manners into this house-elf!" Rob slapped the table.

"Sshhh!" Harry put his index-finger to his mouth. "Walls have ears! You don't want your Aunt Hermione to get to know what you have just said about poor Dinky, do you?"

"Even Hermione has to admit that Dinky should be punished," Sirius said calmly. "We pay her quite well and what does she do? Sits in her room and writes letters. Even uses our owls when she thinks that we don't see it."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Dinky writing letters? To whom?"

"No idea," his wife shook her head. "I told the children not to ask her… it's her business, after all."

"Hermione would be very proud, dear," Harry smiled at Ginny.

"We still don't have dessert!" little Lea whined. "You promised to bring us sweets from Hogsmeade but you haven't! Bad daddy!"

"I couldn't, sweetie, and there's a good reason for it," her father said.

"Honeydukes is closed and up for sale," Sirius nodded knowingly.

"You knew it? You knew it all along and never told me?" Harry shot his godfather an accusing look.

"Well, of course I knew it – I saw it two weeks ago when I visited Rosie," Sirius replied. "I forgot to mention, sorry."

"Forgot?" Robert knitted his eyebrows. "Forgot something as important as this?"

"Why has Honeydukes closed?" Ginny asked.

"According to Ron the owners got too old and wanted to enjoy the rest of their lives on the Bahamas," Harry shrugged. 

"Too bad," Sirius sighed. "Hogsmeade won't be the same without Honeydukes."

"Couldn't we…" Ginny started, then her voice trailed off.

"What?"

"…buy Honeydukes?"

"Buy the shop?" Harry gasped.

"Why not? It's up for sale, is it not?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but…"

"I still haven't spent a single sickle of my part of the family heritage," Ginny said. Thirteen years earlier Ron's pet niffler Wendelin had found a huge crate of gold in Molly's cabbage patch at the Burrow. That crate had been buried by Harold Weasley, an ancestor of the Weasleys, who lived in the seventeenth century and had a bit of a quarrel with the rebelling goblins. He had buried the family's treasures in the Weasleys' country estate then fled abroad, and the treasure hadn't been found until 1998. "Anyway, there are only four kids left with me at home and they play together all the time, not needing their mother that much, and Dinky does all the housework, so… I'm bored. I need something to do. And running Honeydukes would be a perfect thing to occupy myself with. Can you understand that?"

"Sure, I can," Harry said, "but… Do you really want to buy Honeydukes?"

"Well…" Ginny grinned.

Suddenly all the four children felt invigorated. 

"Yes, mum, buy it!" Rose shouted.  

"Buy it, mummy, buy it!" Lea added, enthusiastically.

"How cool it is – we are gonna be the dukes of Honeydukes!" Richie yelped.

"Calm down, children!" Sirius hushed them. "Don't influence your parents, let them make their decision on their own."

"Okay…" Robert smirked. "We let dad decide that mum _should buy the store…"_

* * * * *

The rest of the day was spent in Honeydukes-fervour. The children kept repeating that it was a wonderful idea to purchase the shop, but Harry and Ginny decided to talk about it later, between the two of them.

Although Lea fell asleep after lunch, there was no opportunity for the Potter parents to discuss the topic of Honeydukes until bedtime, because the triplets - to their father's utter horror – decided to play mediwizards and wanted to operate Dinky. Harry had to intervene in order to save the poor house-elf from the terrible fate of disembowelment.

"If I think it over and over… it doesn't sound that bad an idea after all," Harry said as he pulled on his pyjama bottoms and climbed into the bed next to his wife. "The family could move to Hogsmeade and you could be near me all the time…" 

"Your dirty little mind at work, Mr. Potter?" Ginny laughed, pulling her husband down to herself for a kiss. 

"Dirty mind? Nay…" he chuckled, kissing the tip of her nose. "But I'd really like to have you so close… I could come and visit you almost every evening…"

"Dirty mind, indeed," she grinned. "I'd really like to do something for a change… I love living here, raising the kids, but… I need something else, too. I want to work, Harry. Can you understand me?"

"Of course I can. I'm a modern-minded fellow, you know. I wouldn't mind you working, my Honeyduchess."

"Honey Duchess? That's cute," she pulled down his face to hers and kissed him deeply. "And now… what about those dirty thoughts, my Honey Duke?"

* * * * *

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Sirius growled at three hunched figures standing in front of Harry and Ginny's room, pressing their ears onto the door.

"Ssshhh!" Rose hushed him. "Mum and dad mustn't know that we are here eavesdropping!"

Black crossed his arms. "Would you tell me what the hell you are listening to?"

"Mum and dad… _playing," Robert said with a sickeningly innocent expression._

"And what are they um… 'playing'?" Sirius frowned.

"Tarzan and Jane," Richard whispered. "Press you ear here and you'll hear all the jungle noises they are making…"

"I'm not pressing anything anywhere, but I promise I'm going to hang you from the ceiling if you don't go off to your beds immediately," Sirius flicked his wand at the children menacingly, making them scatter. As the three pairs of feet ran off in the direction of their rooms, Sirius indeed pressed his ear onto the door. After the first sentence he heard ('Oh, Harry Potter, you untamed lion!'), he decided to get some sleep – but only after a nice, cold shower.

"Lion? I thought you'd say reindeer…" Harry smiled at his wife, oblivious to the fact that people had been eavesdropping outside. Suddenly his expression changed from happy to scared.

"What is it?" she asked, confused.

Harry gulped, turning ruby red, holding up something... dripping. "I guess it's broken, dear."

"Broken?" she paled, knowing exactly what it meant.

"I… I don't know how this could happen… it hasn't happened, not once…" he stammered. "Damn."

Harry and Ginny – both being Parselmouths – were extremely fertile together. According to the _Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue, if a man and a woman were both Parselmouths and happened to make love, it was inevitable that the woman got pregnant – no matter what kind of contraceptive charms or potions they used. Since the day they got to know this, Harry and Ginny had been using condoms every time they had sex, since that was the only way to prevent conception. Not that they were too happy about it… it was better without it, but there was simply no other choice._

Harry still remembered the night when little Lea was conceived – he and Ginny were spending their seventh wedding anniversary in Florida. After a day spent in Disneyworld, Ginny kissed him fiercely and said: "You know, Harry, walking among all those children in the adventure park I thought we could… have another. I haven't been pregnant for four years… I've been kind of missing it."

Harry was more than delighted back then… they could be together 'the normal way' for a couple of months. After the baby's birth they continued using protection. Her last pregnancy wore Ginny down pretty much and they decided that Lea should be their last child.

No such luck.

"I guess we should start thinking of names, then…" the young mother-to-be whispered into her husband's ear.

Harry looked deeply into her eyes. "Do you think you could handle another pregnancy, Gin? And what about the shop? Could you run it in your condition?"

She had to laugh. Harry looked so concerned, chewing his lower lip, resembling a little boy. He looked so sweet that way.

"C'mere," she pulled him into a kiss. "Don't worry, my love. I'll manage it… we'll manage it."

"No doubt we will…" Harry tried to smile, "…but I don't dare imagine the kids' reaction when they get to know…"

* * * * *

"We have made a decision," Harry said at the breakfast table.

"Aaaaaand???" Rose, Richie, Robert and Lea asked in chorus.

"If it's not sold yet, then we are going to buy Honeydukes and move to Hogsmeade," declared Ginny.

"YIPPPPPPPEEEEE!!!"

"We have another announcement to make," Harry said to calm down the over-zealous Potter children.

"What?" Sirius gave them a curious stare.

"Well… Ginny and I…" Harry reached out to grip his wife's hand and squeezed it, "…are going to have a baby."

"AGAIN????????"

**A/N:** this was very much a build-up chapter, so I'm apologising for the lack of action. The next chapter will be more interesting, I promise.

_Notebook Girl:_ why on Earth would Norbert turn on his dad? He's a Malfoy and Malfoys do not turn each other in. I use Times New Roman size 12 in Word. Why?

_FireWulf:_ I'm glad you liked it.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: well… Dan might have the heart of a Gryffindor. Who knows?

_Houou_: Branagh's play was perfect. Simply loveable.

_Toby Haine_:did you get my mail? I answered your review in it, so I hope you did get it. I'm going to read the next scene ASAP. Btw, I've just seen that you changed your GTnet review you wrote me a bit. First you told me who you were, now there is a 'guess who?' And just a little question: why did you choose such a funny name on the GTnet forums?

_AmandaPanda_: it's one of the very few unanswered questions. Let Harry keep his secret about what he would see if he looked into the mirror.

_King Jasbon:_ I'll try and read that fic you mentioned as soon as I have some time (which will probably be in February, given that I'm going to have exams soon and have to prepare).

_Princess Ginny_: Dan and Norb will be good friends.

_Indigo Ziona_: more Gilda soon, and a lot of darkness later.

_C-chan_: that's exactly what I'm planning to do. And you'll laugh at it.

_Saphron_: they DID take the map with them.

_jennaration:_ the map will be kind of important.

_AClodhoppingElf_: heehee, I love the way so many people have grown to like Norbert, although he's a Malfoy :)

_veronik_: Have you also seen CoS today? I consider myself a Ravenclaw. And which house would you be in? No, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Hungary.

_Mistri:_ which names are familiar? Besides Norbert, I mean… Gilda, perhaps? It comes from Rigoletto. And Lancelot comes from the Arthurian legend. 

_MauiGoddess3:_ nice to see you again! :))

_Lady Schezar_: I didn't think that Snape was so nice to Dan… did he look nice? Oh my…

_Wood secret lover_: please, be patient till chapter 12.

_Pudadingding:_ you have no idea how happy I was to see you again! I thought you had long forgotten about me, so it was a very pleasant surprise to read a review from you again! :) Actually you made me blush with your comments… I feel honoured. Do not worry about Draco, he'll eventually get laid :) I hope you did well on your exams. *sigh*, I'm also going to have exams soon. They suck.

_Zenon Lee_: yes, Harry's wish did have side effects, but they will only be revealed in chapter 13. I know that Grindelwald is a Swiss town because mum told me – she has even been there :) I also thought it to be rather interesting that Rowling associated the previous evil with a German name – I had to think on Hitler for some reason, given that Grindelwald was defeated by Albus in 1945, when the second world war ended… No, we don't have The Amazing Race here in Hungary. We have three other reality shows: one of is Big Brother, of course. The second is called The Farm (I never watched a single episode of that), and the third one that I like quite a lot if called 'The Real World'.

_X-Tow-Naga_: I'm not sure about DADA or DaDA. I thought that 'against' in 'Defence against the Dark Arts' should be written with a small letter, not a capital one. You write 'of' in most title-abbreviations with a small letter, right? For example CoS, PoA or AotC. I thought that 'against' functioned like 'of' or 'the', thus should be written with a small 'a'. I was aware that the Potions class was very similar to the original one in Philosopher's Stone, but I thought that Snape should be acting similarly towards Dan as he had towards Harry. There will be one single scene in chapter 9 that will remind you of a scene of PS, but no more, I promise. History isn't repeating itself all the time.

_ShadowChild: _what do you mean by backing up the characters' children? You mean that I'll have to characterise them profoundly or what? Well… I guess I have done quite a bit of characterisation in this fic, especially on Daniel. You'll see. No, for the time being I'm not planning on being a professional author. Some time, perhaps. You wrote: "…have plots that most authors would give a hand to have come up with." Hm… well, I guess that there WILL BE a certain plot twist in this one that people WOULD give a hand to come up with – I was very proud of myself when I made it up, LOL :) Thanks for the wonderful review!

_K. C. Hunter_: I'm glad that a bunch of stuff is catching your notice now. You'll need to remember most of them later, so it's an advantage that you notice them :)

_Nefertiri:_ how many little sisters do you have? I don't know what Harry would see when looking into the mirror. But I doubt that he'd still see his parents.

_Lyny_: I also like that turkey-on-the-head Mr Bean episode. Very funny :) Have you seen that one in which he decides to cut a window into the kitchen wall and beheads the pictures of Lady Diana and Prince Charles? That was also hilarious. But I liked the Mr Bean movie as well – LOL, Whistler's mother looked so idiotic when Mr Bean re-draw it!

_Katrina_: I'm glad you didn't think it was boring :)

_rebkos:_ I'm going to keep up the long chapters. Maybe this one wasn't that long, but most of them will be.

_sea cucumber_: why have you run out of things to say?

_Alexander Phoenix_: yes, Bert is really exceptionally smart for a caretaker. You think that after the first two fics Harry deserves a break? Oh… poor dear Harry he will definitely not have a break. Probably, if he knew what was going to happen to him, he'd rather commit suicide. Be prepared that this is the fic in which he'll suffer the most. But I promised a more or less happy end, so chin up!

_SiriDragon_: glad you liked it.

_Jeanine23Dr_: yes, Harry is definitely a cool dad :) Dan won't need Harry's cloak, though… you'll see why.

_Missy:_ yeah, some scenes in my fics are quite inappropriate for being published in a children's book, LOL :)

_Dauphin_: Harry already tried to help Dan to get rid of his defeatist streak in the Mirror of Erised scene. But it will take Dan another 8 or so chapters to get rid of it. But after that… hehe, not telling…

_spangle*star_: see my assessment of the movie at the top.

_pamela-potter-24_: thanks for telling me the Scottish school system. However, I'm going to leave their timetable as it is, because it is easier for me to keep track of lessons this way. Let's just assume that wizards aren't that over-burdened with classes as Muggles are, okay? :)

_Waldomier:_ thanks.

_Sky:_ really? Hmmm…

_Katie Bell_: yes, there will be quite a bit of Dobby! :) I decided that he was a shamelessly neglected character in most fanfics, so I put him into this one.

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: I think that Abu saw a banana split in the mirror. What else would monkeys see?

_Rab:_ I'm glad you liked the cookie I _didn't _send you :)))))

_Blondie in Disguise_: I will.

_mazipoto_: well, who knows? Lots of things that don't seem important at first sight WILL be important.

_goldenstar555_: no way would I write a mini Draco :)

_star queen_: yeah, Snape doesn't seem the creative type, does he?

_Lapis Lazuli_: thanks. Btw, I like your name.

_apple-pie_: yes, the mirror will return once, at the end.

_Neus_: hehe, no I didn't fall asleep :) Yes, I heard about that sunken ship, but didn't know that her name was Prestige. Good luck with your exams! As I keep telling my friends when they have exams: May the Force be with you! (Que la Fuerza te accompane! LOL, this is the only thing I know in Spanish!:) The Lockhart cookie was perfect :)

_jasper_: well, you got some Ginny in this chapter :) No, Dan won't get a cloak. He won't need it.

_2Coolio:_ yes, you are right. Those three are going to be like H/Hr/R. But quite different things are going to happen to them.

_Bailey Ballinger_: what have I done? Not much, just started Harry's series of torments. 

_kryptKnight_: no, definitely not. But you seem to have a vivid imagination.

_I forget ;)_: I'm glad you found your way back to me and my fics. Btw, what used to be your reviewer name? Have you ever reviewed before? Just wondering, because I can't remember anyone with the name 'I forget'.

_Aimee:_ yes, the caretaker will be important for some weird reason.

_figgiesblazin_: I'm glad you think I'm good at putting Dan into Slytherin. You're welcome on the review, I'm glad I could be your first reviewer :)

_Sapphire Selia:_ glad to see you here again! I'm updating once a week.

_Rowena Ravenclaw II:_ perhaps Madame Pince wasn't as talented a witch as talented a wizard Sirius had been when restoring Stone Henge's original state. I haven't read the fic you mentioned. I read one in which Harry's daughter was in Slytherin, but I don't remember ever having read one in which his son was a Slytherin. 

_WolfEyes_: yes, there will be a bit about the double triangle later, but the most important romances won't be about those kids. Lots of people are going to fall in love in this fic, and Lily's love for Chris Wood won't be the most important of all.

_Squalldaman_: I'm glad you think Rowling could get inspiration from me:)

_Lainy:_ are you going to review every chapter from now on? Wow, that would make me very happy! :) No, there won't a sequel to this fic, this is the last in this series. But I might write something different later, surely about Harry and Ginny.

_Ice Kitten_: I'm going to read your fic as soon as possible, I promise. If I haven't read it by the next time I update, please, do remind me to do so! There will be a bit of Sirius in the fic, but now much.

_Myrtle_: how nice to see you again! :) I'm glad you like my writing style. It's a great appraisal for someone whose native language isn't English. I bet I could write much better if I were British or American.

_chocolate frog_: LOL, I love your name! Chocolate frogs are so cute (and delicious, too!:)

_Lana Riddle_: I'm glad you liked the resurfacing of the map.

_LilGinny_: I have no idea what laringitis is, but I hope that you'll be feeling all right again soon. (it is some illness, isn't it?) Is your sis feeling better?

_Kamatazi Yumi_: yes, it will get much better and very, very evil :)

_Faith Lynn:_ I will, thanks :)

_Derkaun Zarion:_ is Alabama some TV series (besides a place)? About the sparks… well, later you'll see why Dan produced red and golden ones. No, the caretaker isn't magical at all, he's a Muggle.


	7. Angel

A/N: I have sent some new arts to **www.gryffindortower.net**, check them out (in the Portrait Gallery, under the name AgiVega)! Some of them are in connection with Christmas. The new ones are (in case you don't remember which ones you have already seen): '"Avada Kedavra", "The Yule ball" and "Let it snow". I hope you'll like them. Imagine, weeks ago our E-PR teacher asked us to write an article, complaining about something. I decided to write about my favourite topic: Harry Potter, and I complained about the short-sightedness of many Christians who said that HP was Satanist. A few days ago the class got the articles back from the teacher, and mine was one of the best! I was so proud :) 

Another funny thing happened: I found an Italian food company on the Internet called Agivega SPA. Can you imagine it? I share my author name with a food-producer! I wonder where that company got its name… ;)

Please, wish me good luck, because I'm going to have a German exam on Saturday! Say 'May the Force be with you!' (double thanks to those who can say it in German ;)

Chapter 7 

Angel 

The first class the Gryffindors and the Slytherins had Monday morning was History of Magic with Professor Binns. Since the ghost and his teaching methods hadn't changed a bit over the past decades, it was still the dullest class imaginable. Given that it was Monday morning (all students' most hated time of the week), they were downright lucky to have History of Magic as their first lesson: Monday mornings made everyone extremely dispirited and drowsy, but in Binns' class, they could have a nice, long nap to recover their strength after the weekend.

The only person wide-awake in the classroom was Lancelot Weasley, who kept jotting down everything the ghost professor said.

When Binns started to explain the terrible sin Caesare and Lucretia Borgia – both magic people and world-famous poison-makers – committed (they were siblings, said to have lived in incest), Kevin's head fell on his desk and he began snoring. The twins were playing wizard chess under the table (they were just as good at it as their father, Ron) not paying attention to Binns, who, meanwhile, had stopped his lecture on the Borgia family and started a new topic: witch-hunts.

"So, what did your dad tell you yesterday?" Norbert asked the slightly slumbering Daniel, who opened his eyes and yawned.

"Well, that… er, he told me some news…"

"What?" his friend pressed.

"Mum decided to buy Honeydukes. You know it's up for sale."

Norbert's eyes widened. "Wow! Your mum is going to own the best shop at Hogsmeade!"

He must have expressed his enthusiasm a bit too loudly, because professor Binns gave him a withering glance, then continued talking about Malleus Maleficarum ('witch-hammer') – a book written by two Dominican monks who were very eager on burning every woman they suspected to be a witch.

"Dad told me something else, too," Dan whispered to his friend, who was resting his chin on his closed History of Magic book, idly drawing dragons on the desk.

"What?" Norbert asked, adding a couple of flames to his drawing to show that his dragon could breath fire.

"Mum's pregnant again."

"Huh?"

"Potter baby number seven is on the way," Daniel replied.

"Seven? Aren't your parents a bit too… eager?"

"Well, yeah, but my grandparents – the Weasleys – also had seven children. Mum and dad just follow their example."

"Quite busy, those two," Norbert grinned. 

"Uh-huh… but I don't mind having another sibling."

Young Malfoy's eyes flashed for a second. "Good for you. I wish I didn't have Draco for a brother. Way too annoying. Strutting as though he owned the universe just because he has that ratty bank of his!"

When Professor Binns started lecturing the class about the merits of Wendelin the Weird, Iago Rosier nudged Daniel.

"Hey, Potter! This is for you!" he handed Dan a small parchment.

Dan opened it to see a line written in a familiar hand:

_Let's do it this afternoon. Meet us half past five by the statue of the One-Eyed Witch._

"What is it?" Norbert asked.

"Kevin, Viv and Val want to go to Honeydukes today. With the help of the Map."

"Why go to Honeydukes? It's closed, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Dan nodded, "but we might find a bit of leftover stocks in the cellar… and even if we don't find anything, we can still say that we have had our first Marauder Adventure."

Seeing Daniel's enthusiasm, Norbert heaved a deep sigh. "Of course your cousins wouldn't want me to join you in this adventure, would they? I understand…"

Daniel didn't know what to reply – naturally Kevin and the twins would not be charmed by the idea of letting a Malfoy become a Marauder… on the other hand, Dan didn't want to hurt his new friend.

"I'll talk to them at lunchtime," he said resolutely. "I'll persuade them to let you come."

Norbert waved. "Spare yourself the trouble, they won't let me. It doesn't matter, really…"

Young Potter, however, had come to a decision: he'd talk to his cousins by all means. Norbert didn't need to know about it, and if he couldn't persuade the Weasleys, Norbert wouldn't be too sad because of having been turned down.

As Professor Binns announced that from the next lesson they would be learning about goblin revolutions (very likely to the end of their seventh year), Dan sent a note back to Kevin saying _'Meet me by the greenhouses before lunch. We've got to discuss something.'_

* * * * *

The next lesson of the Slytherins was Herbology together with the Hufflepuffs. Professor Sprout started their first lesson introducing them to her favourite jumping blue tomatoes, that – according to her – cured depression.

At the middle of the class Aberforth Dumbledore put in an appearance, looking a bit hesitant.

"Ehm… Professor Sprout…" he cleared his throat, "Could I borrow… Julie Dumbledore for a minute?"

Suddenly every student turned in the direction of the little blonde Hufflepuff girl sitting at the farthest corner of the greenhouse, trying not to draw any attention to herself.

"Ms. Dumbledore, you may go with Professor Dumbledore," Sprout declared.

The little blonde girl seemed to have shrunk to half of her size. Aberforth gave her an encouraging smile, looking like the benign Santa Claus. "Come, my dear, don't be afraid."

Julie rose to her feet and followed the old man out of the building.

A loud murmur ran down the greenhouse, as every student started to discuss the events.

"I wonder what relation there is between the Dumbledore brothers and this girl," Dan said, trimming the leaves of a blue tomato.

"I don't know," Norbert shrugged. "She may be a grandchild or great-grandchild of one of them."

"She is Aberforth Dumbledore's descendant, that's for sure," Gilda Lockhart spoke up at the neighbouring table.

"What makes you be so sure about it?" Norbert raised an eyebrow. "She could be a descendant of the headmaster as well."

"It's evident, isn't it?" Gilda replied. "Albus Dumbledore was never married, we would know if he had been. Thus the child could not be his descendant."

"Why not? She could be illegitimate, couldn't she?" Dan asked.

"Definitely not," the girl said. "Illegitimate children do not have their father's family name, they get their mother's family name… unless their father adopts them."

"Then…" Dan was thinking hard to find something to prove this annoying girl that she wasn't right. "Albus and Aberforth could have had a sister who had an illegitimate daughter: this Julie… and then Julie could get her mum's family name."

"Have it your way, Potter," Gilda shot him a 'you-are-stupid-and-annoying-and-maybe-I-should-have-beaten-you-up-more-thoroughly'-stare and turned away. Daniel felt the same about Gilda: that she was stupid and annoying. And dangerous.

"At last!" Norbert sighed. "She's driving me nuts, this chick."

"Me, too," Dan agreed, leaning closer to Norbert and whispered: "And she gives me the creeps, too! A girl that can fight this well shouldn't be crossed." 

"I'm not afraid of crossing her," his friend replied. "Anyway, I think she just wants to get our attention."

"Probably," young Potter shrugged, in thought comparing Gilda to Liu Chang. While the mere though of Gilda Lockhart (and her straight-lefts) made him shudder, just thinking of Liu made him feel warm from head to toe. He decided that whenever he felt cold, he'd think of Liu.

After having stopped weaving fantasies of the pretty Ravenclaw girl, Daniel directed his attention back to Aberforth and Julie, who were talking outside. He saw the old wizard pull the little girl into a hug, then depart. Julie returned to the greenhouse with a timid smile, but apparently in much better mood than she had been when Aberforth arrived.

* * * * *

"You are out of your mind!" Kevin Weasley shouted at his favourite cousin. "We cannot admit him into the Marauder team!"

"Why not? Just because he's a Malfoy? That's something he isn't faulty in! It's not his fault that he has a former Death Eater for a father and a git for a brother!" Dan felt that he needed to defend his new friend and prove that not all Malfoys were bad. Norbert had long left for the castle to have lunch, but Daniel decided that he'd persuade Kevin of Norbert's good intentions.

"Oh, come to your senses, mate!" Kevin said. "It's all right that you cannot choose the family to be born into, but if you are born into the Malfoy family, then it means that you will be corrupted by the age of four. This Norbert must be like that, too… a snake in the grass, I tell you. He seemed to be quite okay on the train, but I bet it was just pretence!"

"Oh, I understand it now!" Dan snapped. "You thought he wasn't that bad as long as he didn't befriend me! You are jealous, that's what your problem is!"

"Jealous???"

"Yes, jealous, because I'm spending more time with him than with you! You know that I wouldn't have become his friend if I hadn't been sorted into Slytherin! It's not my fault, understood? I never asked to be a Slytherin and I never wanted to be Norbert's friend, but fate had another plan in mind! Fate wanted me to be a Slytherin, to become the friend of a Malfoy and to realise that prejudices were utterly stupid!"

"Stupid? No, they are not! They always have a basis!" Kevin retorted.

"Prejudices have poisoned your heart!" Dan shook his head in disbelief. "If you are so full of prejudices, then maybe you should condemn me, too… I'm a Slytherin, after all… a bad guy."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Dan, don't start philosophising about prejudices and jealousy… I would never have prejudices against you, but Malfoy… he's different. He's… a Malfoy, that's all, and that's enough for me not to trust him," seeing Daniel's expression, he sighed. "All right, all right, let's give him a chance. He may come today to Honeydukes, but I'll keep an eye on him. I'm only doing this for you, remember that. If he turns out a traitor and tells others about the Map, I'll strangle him, I swear."

"Deal," Dan nodded and headed for the castle to have lunch then write his homework for the next Potions class. Norbert had also promised him to exercise the spark-conjuring charm with him (Dan still hadn't mastered it properly, but Norbert had learnt the extinguishing charm over the weekend, so that if Dan set anything on fire, he would be able to deal with it.)

* * * * *

While Dan and Norbert were practicing Charms in the afternoon, the Gryffindors had Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Kevin told Viviane and Valentine about his discussion with Daniel, and the twins were outraged.

"Dan doesn't know what he's doing!" Viv fumed and accidentally broke the stalk of her jumping blue tomato. The tomato started to emit sounds of fury (it was swearing in tomato language, so the students didn't understand a word of it), and kept shaking its leaves (balled into tiny blue fists) at the girl.

"Of course he doesn't know it!" Kevin said. "But he couldn't be convinced! I feared I'd lose his friendship if we didn't let Malfoy join us, so I gave in. But I also added that if this Norbert gave us any grief, we'd resolve to take serious measures."

Meanwhile, the sky started to darken and the sun hid behind thick, grey clouds.

As Professor Sprout began to explain all the magical properties of the blue tomatoes, it started to rain. The fine summer weather got chased away by the chilly winds and the huge raindrops pouring onto the Hogwarts grounds. Every once in a while a flashy lightning ran across the sky – illuminating the park for seconds – closely followed by a loud thunder. It sounded as though God and his angels had been playing bowling up in heaven.

At half past four the world outside looked as though it had been midnight. The blustery wind made the foliage of the trees in the Dark Forest sway madly.

When the lesson ended, the students exited the greenhouse, trying to cover themselves with their robes as much as possible, running towards the safety of the castle. Most of them had already vanished behind the thick curtain of rain when the Weasleys were still stumbling across the grounds. The reason for their slowness was Lancelot, who had accidentally given himself a jelly leg jinx at Defence Against the Dark Arts that morning. Thanks to his clumsiness he could only limp. The twins and Kevin would have reached the castle long ago, had they not felt responsible for their cousin. So, they propped him from either side, trying to make him limp a bit faster in the tempest.

They were already soaked to the skin and called Lancelot everything they could think of (Lancelot was grateful enough for their help to restrain himself from shouting 'language!' whenever one of the other three uttered an elaborately constructed swear).

Though slowly, they were getting closer to the building. They had almost made half of the way when suddenly a centaur raced out of the forest, madly waving with his hands and shouting something that could not be heard through the thundering that kept muffling noises. (It was possible that Lancelot didn't even hear his cousins' swears and that's why he didn't scold them.)

The four Weasley children stopped as the centaur (a blond one) ran up to them, panting. He must have been running for a while, because he looked totally exhausted.

"Thanks the stars I have found someone out here!" he shouted to out-bellow the thunder. "You've got to help!"

"Help? With what?" Kevin yelled back.

"A tree got struck by a lightning and fell over a unicorn! I tried to rescue it but I couldn't do it alone! All the other centaurs had already hid from the storm and I couldn't find anyone else!"

"I'll run up to the school and ask a teacher to come and help you!" Viviane shouted.

"It might be too late for that unfortunate creature! We must act immediately!" the centaur bellowed. 

"All right!" Valentine agreed. "We'll come and help you!"

"But... it's the Forbidden Forest!" Lancelot objected, turning chalk-white. "We mustn't go in there!"

"You aren't coming, don't worry!" Kevin yelled. "You are way too slow! Viv, Val and I are going!"

Lancelot cringed. "You are... going to leave me here? _Alone???"_

* * * * *

"I still can't believe that your cousins let me come!" Norbert said cheerfully as he and Daniel climbed upstairs to meet the other Marauders by the statue of the One-Eyed Witch. As they turned left on a corner they heard the voice of an angry McGonagall coming out of the staff room:

"I simply don't understand this, Albus! My husband had a wife before me but got divorced, that is clear... the woman moved to The States, that's okay, too. She raised their child there... I understand. But _why have you never told Aberforth that he had become a father? And if you kept it a secret so long, then why not keep it a secret forever?"_

"Now, now, dear Minerva..." the headmaster's soothing voice replied. "Why do I have the impression that you are unhappy about little Julie being here?"

"I'm not unhappy, Albus, but this whole thing was too sudden for me... I don't know... I was only surprised when I read out Julie's name during the Sorting since I didn't remember having sent an owl to a Dumbledore... then I was downright shocked when she turned out to be my husband's great-granddaughter! I'm confused, Albus. How should I react? I'm mad at Aberforth for not telling me about his former marriage, I'm mad at you for not telling him about his descendants... and I'm mad at myself, too..."

"Mad at yourself? Why, Minerva?" Albus sounded surprised.

"Because..." her voice broke, "because whenever I look at her... at Julie... I feel jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yes. Jealous, because I don't have a granddaughter of my own, and jealous, because now I'll have competition."

"Competition? For what?"

"For Aberforth's love..." McGonagall replied very quietly, almost whispering, but the two friends eavesdropping outside could still hear it.

"Minerva, Minerva... I thought you were more sensible than that," the headmaster said. "My crazy brother loves you and I'm sure that he won't love you any less when he loves this little girl as well."

"I know, Albus, I know, still... I'm afraid."

"Don't be, Minerva."

"Albus..."

"Yes?"

"It was your idea to bring her to Hogwarts... wasn't it?"

"There's no use denying... it was."

"But... why?"

Albus didn't reply at once, he must have been contemplating his answer. "I have been watching my brother ever since he married you, and I have to admit that you changed him. Not much, but you did, nevertheless. He seems to have grown up... at least a bit. I thought he had become mature enough to handle a family, a little child... and I also have to admit that there was a bit of revenge in it, too... yes, Minerva... I always wanted to get back at my dear brother for that goat-joke and I thought I could at least give him a nice shock by bringing Julie here."

"I... I never thought you could be like that... vindictive, I mean," McGonagall said with a hint of accusation in her voice.

"I know... and I'm a bit ashamed of it," replied Dumbledore. "I think I should apologise... to you. I hope I haven't ruined your marriage by bringing Julie to Hogwarts. I just wanted to give Aberforth a bit of a shock... and I also wanted him to get to know his great-grandchild at last. Basically, I had good intentions... with a bit of mischief in the background."

"Tsk, tsk, Albus... sometimes you and Aberforth are so alike!" Minerva tutted, but her voice didn't sound angry anymore, it rather sounded relieved.

Daniel and Norbert would have stayed to eavesdrop a bit longer if Gilderoy Lockhart hadn't turned into the corridor, wearing lilac robes and a wide grin.

The two boys, hearing footsteps, moved away from the door of the staff room, pretending to be strolling around.

"Hello, boys," Lockhart greeted them.

"Good afternoon, professor," Dan and his friend said in unison and continued their way towards the statue of the One-Eyed Witch.

"So, is it true, then. That Julia is Aberforth's great-granddaughter, not the headmaster's," said Dan.

"Yeah... but don't tell Lockhart's daughter that she was right... she's just as stuck up as her father and if we told her she was right, she'd just become even more complacent."

"I don't know... she's annoying, all right, but I don't think she's stuck-up. Had she been like her father, she'd have long, curly locks, magically elongated eyelashes, she'd wear lipstick and she'd paint her nails. But she doesn't do any of these..." Dan said. "She's so much like a boy! And not at all lockhartish."

"I bet good old Lockhart Daddy isn't too happy about his bellicose little daughter," Norbert commented as they reached the statue ten minutes later. "Well, it's already half past five, they are late."

Dan looked at his watch. "Yeah. They had Herbology that lasted till five fifteen. They must have got soaked to the skin in this tempest... they are probably warming up and changing into dry clothes right now."

"Let's have a look at the Map, it will tell us where they are," Norbert suggested.

"Okay," young Potter looked around to make sure that no teacher was nearby and activated the map. The boys bent over it and saw that the Weasleys were nowhere in the castle. In the upper corner of the parchment, however, four dots were moving: three of them labelled Weasleys and one labelled 'Firenze'. They seemed to be running towards the forest.

"They're entering the Forbidden Forest!" Daniel breathed. 

"Are they mad?" Norbert gasped and snatched the map out of his friend's hands. "Oh my, they are really going in there… You know, they could get injured in there... the forest is home to dangerous creatures."

"I know. My parents told me a lot about it. There are werewolves, giant spiders and stuff... Firenze is a centaur, as far as I know, but what does he want from my cousins? What if they get into trouble? They might even die!"

"Let's call a teacher!" Norbert suggested.

"I agree," Dan nodded. They might have to reveal the fact that they had such a tricky map in order to save his cousins, but losing the map was not as terrible as losing Kevin and the twins.

The boys ran back to the staff room, but found no teachers there. Where on Earth were Albus and McGonagall when they needed them? Norbert looked at the map again. 

"Dumbledore and McGonagall are in Lockhart's study at the other end of the castle," he said. "I wonder how they got there so quickly… Professor Weasley is in the owlery, your dad is in the kitchen… the teacher who is the closest to us is Snape in the dungeons."

"Snape? You have any idea what he'd do to my cousins?" Dan groaned, taking the map back from his friend. "Do we have to go to Snape of all people?"

"If you don't want you cousins to die, then yes. We cannot waste any more time," Norbert replied and started running downstairs.

Two minutes later the friends reached the dungeons and practically ripped open Snape's door.

"What is it? Haven't you heard about knocking?" the Potions Master spat, hastily jerking the sleeve of his robes back into place. He must have been spreading some cream on the lower part of his left arm, because Daniel saw a jar open on the professor's desk.

"Sorry, professor, but we need your help!" Norbert gabbled. "Three students have just entered the Forbidden Forest with a centaur! We don't know why, but they might be in danger and..."

He couldn't even finish the sentence, because Snape hurried past them and growled: "Idiots! Going into the forest in such a weather!" he turned to the two boys, while all three of them kept running upstairs. "How do you know about it at all? You couldn't have seen it from the castle's windows in this downpour!" 

He was right: if you looked out the window now, you couldn't see anything but fog and rain.

"We... got to know it another way, sir," Daniel gulped, knowing that he was going to lose his precious map, but his cousins' lives were more important. He had to tell Snape. "With this."

Severus cast a glance at the map, recognising it at once. "Give it to me."

Dan, somewhat reluctantly, handed the parchment to his head of house. Snape immediately performed _Impervius_ on the map. Meanwhile they had reached the gate of the entrance hall and raced out into the heavy rain.

"Three Weasleys, as I see," Snape growled, examining the map. "A wonder you aren't with them right now, Potter. I wouldn't be surprised if you were. But don't worry, you are in just a great trouble as they are. I know that you have stolen this map out of the purple room's closet! I have shut it in there personally, years and years ago!"

Dan didn't feel like replying, just hurried to keep up with Snape. Norbert was clutching at a stitch in his side and panting, while Daniel's glasses got blurry because of the raindrops.

"_Impervius!" young Malfoy pointed his wand at his friend's spectacles as they ran through the Hogwarts grounds. He must have got the idea from Snape doing the same to the map._

Dan was surprised that the professor never told them to stop and to not enter the forest with him – although he had several opportunities to do so. Dan was kind of expecting Snape to yell at them to go back into their dorms before they exited the castle, but he did not. He could have ordered them to turn back when they reached the edge of the forest, but he still did not. So the two boys followed Severus into the woods.

The trees and bushes of the Forbidden Forest stood so close to each other that it was almost impossible to move forward – they needed to toss branches aside and Snape decided to give the map back to Dan so that he could concentrate on cursing the shrubbery out of their way, making a passable path. Although it was hard to move in the thick undergrowth, it had at least one advantage: it did not let the chilly winds come through. The dense foliage prevented the rain from pouring into their robes, but they were already soaked enough.

"A bit to the left, professor," Daniel said, following the movement of his cousins on the map. Lucky that the forest belonged to the Hogwarts grounds, otherwise it would not be on the map and they would have no idea where to look for the stray Weasleys. 

Meanwhile, Kevin, Viv and Val, led by Firenze, got deeper and deeper into the forest. Their teeth were chattering with cold but the centaur kept urging them on. "Hurry! We don't have much time!"

After fifteen minutes of running they saw something glint among the dark leaves of the bushes. Something was giving off light... white and golden light.

"There she is!" Firenze yelped, jumping forward to push away the branches of a blackberry bush. The three children arrived at a small clearing to see the most painful scene they had ever seen: an enchantingly white mother unicorn lying on the ground under a huge, gnarly tree-branch. The branch must have been at least fifteen inches in diameter and it seemed to have crushed the poor animal badly.

The source of the golden light was a small baby unicorn that kept running around its mother, sometimes bending down to nudge her with its muzzle.

"Ooooh..." Viviane clasped her hands, seeing the foal desperately trying to revive its mother.

Firenze bent down to heave one end of the fallen branch, but he could not move it alone. Kevin hurried to the other end. Viv helped Kevin and Val helped Firenze. The four of them managed to make the branch budge a bit, but it was still too big and heavy.

"Maybe we could..." Kevin began, and the girls nodded. All the three of them pointed their wands at the branch. "_Wingardium Leviosa!" _

"Good that my dads taught us how to do this because we haven't learnt it at Charms yet," Kevin said happily.

The unicorn mare was finally freed, but it still didn't move, just opened its turquoise eyes and sent her baby a loving stare.

"Could we fix her somehow?" Valentine asked. Her heart ached at the thought that this beautiful creature would die in front of their very eyes.

"I fear..." Firenze bent down to have a closer look at the mare, "I fear her spine is broken. I didn't notice it when I ran for help..."

The foal nestled its muzzle onto its mother's neck, its little golden body shaking. The mare said good-bye to her baby in her silent way – her stare revealed all her love and worry before she closed her eyes for good.

The foal must have felt that its mother passed away, because it let out a plaintive neigh. 

"There you are!" a harsh voice tore at the silence that had ensued after the unicorn's death. The three Weasleys cringed as they saw professor Snape stumble out of a nearby bush, but they were even more surprised to see Daniel with him.

"What the hell did you think you were doing, coming in here???" Severus bellowed, making the foal run behind the centaur in fright. The professor's usually yellowish face was ashen with fury and exhaustion, while droplets of rain kept dripping from his greasy locks.

"We just..." Viviane started, but she felt like having lost her voice.

"They just helped me save a unicorn," Firenze spoke up in defence of the children. "They are not to be blamed."

"Save a unicorn?" Snape spat derisively, casting a glance at the dead mare. "This thing doesn't seem to have been saved."

"Because we arrived too late!" Kevin reasoned.

"The branch fell on her and broke her backbone!" Valentine added, blinking back tears. No matter how tough kids and how great mischief-makers she and her twin were, they were still too shocked by the events to remain indifferent.

"As I see the foal has no mother anymore," Snape declared. "It will die without caring. Malfoy, take the foal. We are going to place it under Aberforth Dumbledore's care."

Norbert nodded and scooped up the small being that kept neighing for its mother.

"And now, move!" the professor shouted at the Weasleys. "Out of this forest, hurry!"

"Bye!" the twins waved sadly at Firenze and followed Snape.

On their way up to the castle, Daniel kept wondering what made a person like Snape want to place the baby unicorn under care. Could it mean that he actually _had a heart? _

As the six soaking wet people entered the entrance hall, they caught a glimpse of Bert Bradley the caretaker and Gilda Lockhart.

"Professor Snape!" Bert shouted. "You are drenched! And these children as well!"

"And?" Severus growled at him.

"I must ask you to perform a drying charm on yourselves before stepping any further, or I'll have to spend the whole night cleaning up the mud you leave behind!"

"Great," Norbert whispered into Dan's ear. "He's no better than Filch."

To their surprise Severus didn't object – he pointed his wand at himself, then at the kids, drying them in the blink of an eye.

"Thank you, professor," Bert said. "It's delighting to see clean corridors. Ms. Lockhart and I have just been talking about the cleaning techniques her father uses in his beauty salons..."

"Mr. Bradley!" Snape waved the caretaker to shut up. "I have no time for lectures on floor-cleaning. I need to have a serious discussion with these students here," he turned to the five children. "Follow me."

Soon they entered Snape's study in the dungeons. Dan had already heard of this room from his father and it looked just as creepy as Harry had described it: ugly dead animals floating in jars full of smelly liquids... yuck.

"And now..." Severus growled. "I want to remind you that nothing, I repeat, _nothing gives a student the right to enter the Forbidden Forest! Even if your intentions were good..." he gave the three Weasleys a piercing look that made them have the feeling that Snape could actually see into their souls. "Therefore a hundred points will be taken from you."_

"A HUNDRED???" Kevin gasped. Gryffindor house managed to get 35 points in the first two school days, but – given Kevin's minus 10 points because of punching Lancelot at the beginning-of-the-year-feast – the house now had 25 points. With another 100 points taken, Gryffindor would have minus 75 points. Not a rosy prospect.

"100 points... _each_." Snape replied.

Seeing the shock on the Weasley children's faces, Daniel couldn't help but feel hatred for Snape. His former presumption that the Potions teacher might have a heart got refuted. Snape definitely had not heart.

"WHAT?" the twins shouted after hearing their 'sentence'.

"You heard me," Severus shrugged. "Be grateful that I'm not giving you a detention to go with it."

Now he turned to the two Slytherin boys. Daniel tried not to look too scared, but – having heard what Snape did to his cousins (and to Gryffindor house) – he did not dare imagine what terrible fate awaited him for having stolen the map.

"As for you, Potter... I know you stole the map and I should take a hundred points from you for it... but I'm going to be gracious this time. Detention with Mr. Bradley for a month... you'll be helping him to keep the castle clean – and I'm going to take this map from you and shut it into my room. I do not advise you to try and steal it again. Malfoy..."

"Devilsmoor, sir," Norbert corrected.

"Devilsmoor, then," Snape nodded. "I'm going to notify Aberforth Dumbledore to come and take the foal. Wait for him here in front of my study. And now... off to bed, all of you!"

As the five children exited Snape's room, Dan was surprised to see Gilda Lockhart standing by the wall with crossed arms. She must have got curious to hear Snape telling off Dan and Norbert, and followed them into the dungeons.

Before Dan could say 'you'd better not start rejoicing at our misery', Kevin's fist mysteriously met with his nose. It started to bleed at once. "Wha...?"

"You idiot!" Kevin shouted. "Why did you have to run to Snape and tell on us, huh?"

"We just wanted to help..."

"Help?" Viviane cried. "Oh, you have helped a lot! Thanks to you, Gryffindor has minus 275 points! A record!"

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't get eaten by a giant spider!" Daniel retorted. "I saw you on the map going into the forest and I feared you'd never come out again! Snape was the first teacher we could find to help you!"

"Ooh, how grateful we are!" Valentine snapped. "You saw us on the map... and now Snape confiscated it! You couldn't take care of it for three days!"

"I _had to tell him about the map or we wouldn't have been able to find you!"_

"I wish you hadn't found us at all!" Kevin bellowed. "I wish you had been eaten by a werewolf! You... you... you aren't my friend anymore!"

"Listen, you great prat..." Dan began, but Norbert cut in:

"Don't you realise that you could have been hurt in the forest? Don't you see that Dan just wanted to make sure you were safe?"

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy has graciously spoken to us!" Kevin snorted mockingly. "I don't care what you say, you git, but one thing is sure: you and Daniel really are good for each other! Both of you traitorous, Snape's-boot-licking bastards! Both of you fucking Slytherins!"

In the next instant Daniel jumped forward to give Kevin a black eye in return for his bleeding nose. When Norbert tried to pull Dan back, he received a punch in the jaw from one of the twins, who – apparently – had thought that he wanted to join the fight.

Before the five youngsters could beat the crap out of each other, Gilda Lockhart intervened. With a couple of well-aimed straight lefts and rights she managed to scatter the fighters.

"You'll pay for your betrayal, Potter!" Kevin growled as he left with the murderous-looking twin girls, cradling a sore wrist and massaging his aching knuckles.

"He called... he called me _Potter!" Daniel whispered, not feeling strong enough to produce a louder sound. "I have lost him. Them."_

Norbert put an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Not your fault. They don't deserve your friendship. If those house-points and a stupid map is more important to them than your love and caring, then they definitely don't deserve you."

"Thanks," Dan managed a small smile, looking at the little golden unicorn that Norbert had put down before entering the fight. Gilda was kneeling by the small animal, gently caressing it.

"Isn't he cute?" Dan muttered.

"She," Gilda replied. "It's a female."

"A female?" young Potter mused. "Then I guess I have a name for her."

The other two gave him a questioning stare.

"My sister Lily used to own a stuffed unicorn when she was small. Now it belongs to my younger sister, Lea. Its name is Angel."

**A/N: **For the sake of this chapter, let's assume that the greenhouses are quite far away from the school, and not like they were in the movie (right next to the castle). 

Also let's assume that the Forbidden Forest is also shown on the Marauder's Map. I'm not sure it is, but let's just believe that it is, okay?

_Lupin's Angel_: I'm glad that penicillin really works. It cured Harry, too :))

_Desert Hacker_: here it is :)

_King Jasbon_: the baby's name won't be given in the story, sorry.

_X-Tow-Naga_: you pervert! Reindeer having sex with Ginny! Yuck! :) About Ginny missing being pregnant – I have heard that certain women who don't have morning sicknesses actually like being pregnant. They say that having a new life inside you is simply magical. I don't know, never been pregnant :) But of course the labour must suck, I agree. 

_Nefertiri_: yes, definitely go and see the scene after the credits, it's the funniest of all! Wow, your parents have 8 kids! My gosh! Aren't you related to the Weasleys? :) I hope you did well in your midterm.

_SiriDragon_:Creevey creepy? I didn't find him creepy, he was downright cute. Pity that he didn't ask Harry for signed photos. Hermione was really a freak in movie one, but fortunately she didn't have that much of a role in the second one. (anyone can yell at me, but I don't care, I don't like Emma Watson's acting. She's overacting.) But all the boys in CoS were perfect. Harry, Ron, Draco, Oliver, Tom, even Crabbe and Goyle… all of them!

_The-Girl-Who-Lived_: Harry would never be able to hate his son… or would he? No idea. I don't think they'll have 14 kids :)

_Altec_: IMHO they couldn't have used the pill. Remember: in the previous story it was stated that no charms and potions worked for them. I believe that a birth control potion would function very similarly to the pill, and if it isn't effective, then the pill wouldn't be, either. Sorry, no more excerpts from Slytherin's diary. The only excerpt that was necessary for the fic was the one in the prologue.

_star queen_: yeah, go Ron/Hermione! I have always been an R/Hr fan, but now that I've seen the movie I'm much more of an R/Hr fan!  

_Rab_: is there a Peeves pic on mugglenet? I haven't seen it. Could you give me the URL next time? Yes, do watch the scene after the credits, it's worth! You STILL like Kevin? *evil grin*

_Princess Ginny_: you are going to get to know soon what's up with Dinky. In chapter 8 or 9, I'm not sure which one. 

_Kit Cloudkicker_: Daniel just looks like his grandpa, but we cannot be sure whether he is really like James or not. We don't know what James was really like.

_Toby Haine_: I didn't like Fudge, either, but Arthur was the worst, IMHO. About the music you mentioned: yesterday I saw the movie again and paid particular attention to the scene where Harry touched Ginny's hand, and there was NO music at all. But the Mirror of Erised music indeed returned, when Dumbledore told Harry to examine the sword and he saw  Godric's name engraved into it. Make sure you pay attention to this part next time :) I also found it stupid that Malfoy was there at Herbology with the Gryffindors, but it was funny when the Mandrake bit his finger :) Yeah, Herm wasn't that much overacting in this one. I found her very irritating in the first movie. Lea has to be pronounced as 'Leah'. Don't worry about being a male on GTnet, there are some males, for example Runechild, Mr Imogen or Alan Smithy. What? Build-up makes it even better? Really? I feel relieved. I've always feared that people would hate chapters 4-11 for being build-ups. Do tell me when you start uploading Ginny Weasley and the Very Secret Diary, okay? I'm really interested in it.      

_sabby_: for some reason the unborn Potter kid will be important. But not the way you – or anyone – would think. You'll see.

_jasper_: you're welcome :)

_romina_: I also loved the Burrow. Looks so cool. I wish I could magically do the washing-up!

_Dauphin_: evil? Me? Why? In chapter 6 there was nothing evil. Well, this chapter was more evil, but even this wasn't really evil yet. The really evil things will come after chapter 12… or rather chapter 15? Well, it depends on your point of view.

_Lainy_: believe me, it's hard for me too, to imagine Harry being 31 ;)

_Indigo Ziona_: you too missed the after-the-credits-scene? You poor one! Next time don't miss it!

_K. C. Hunter_: I guess that the 'eat dung, Kevin' line originates from the 'eat slugs, Malfoy' line. Oh, I loved the slug-belching scene in the movie, so funny! Did you know that Rupert Grint had to stuff rubber slugs into his mouth and spit them out? I thought those were CGI slugs, but in the werkfilm Rupert said that they were rubber and they even tasted good :)

_Lady Schezar_: yeah, I wanted Harry to have seven kids, because seven is my favourite number. I also think that a Potter and Malfoy being friends is weird, but the weirder, the more interesting :)

_Houou_: never heard of Willy Wonka. Who's that?

_AClodhoppingElf_: a boy.

_Lana Riddle_: thanks a lot :)

_sea cucumber_: I envy you! I also want snow, but it hasn't snowed here in Hungary this winter at all. Well, there's still two and a half months of winter, so we might get snow later. I won't give up on it :)

_starheart20_: I sent you a new mail. Did you get it? 

_2Coolio_: what do you mean by 'score one for me?' And why did you think that Dan's line was hypocritical?

_Wood's secret lover_: you are right. There's something about the caretaker. But what? Not telling yet :)

_Black Ice_: no, I haven't thought of names yet.

_XxStRaNgEoNexx_: the end scene after the credits was about Lockhart. I also missed the house-cup from the second movie. But it wasn't as important as in the first one, so it's not that terrible that it got omitted. Yes, I have evil plot bunnies, but for the time being I'm keeping them in a sack. I'm going to let them out in chapter 12.

_Lizzie_: it was about Gilderoy in a straitjacket. Totally hilarious.

_Derkaun Zarion_: I don't always love kids. Not all of them, I mean. I wouldn't want to have seven kids, that's for sure. I'd be satisfied with two.

_missy_: I'm glad you found it hilarious :)

_Waldomier_: I hope you'll get to see the movie soon!

_Sky_: what does rawrness mean?

_C-chan_: which author wrote The Rejected HP Script? I'd like to read it, it sounds fun!

_Red Ridding Hood_: for elementary and high school students there's a two weeks long Xmas holiday. For university and college students there's so to say none. We end the term on 20th December, but are going to have exams throughout January, so even if we don't have to go to school for weeks, we have to study a lot, and it's like as though we didn't have holidays at all :( Now I'll have to get used to your new name, Lourdes :)

_Katrina_: boy.

_notebook girl_: sure, Norbert KNOWS that everything Lucius does is illegal.

_TaMaraR_: I'm sure that the end-scene is shown in the USA as well, because actually American email-friends told me to stay and watch the credits because there's a bonus joke at the end.

_Alexander Pheonix_: perhaps I'm not *that* mean :)

_VardaFangwen_: thanks a lot.

_Kamatazi Yumi_: you wrote: "I didn't get my email saying our dear ficcie was up! -pokes and glares". What do you mean by that? What mail didn't you get? Did you refer to the ffnet update alert, or what? Because I have no idea how that works, I don't have update alert. No, I'm not going to kill Harry. He's in for much worse things than death. Don't worry, Hermione is safe. Yes, it was in my fic that Ron decapitated Nick. You belong to those very few people who were happy about Dan being in Slytherin. Yes, Snape is about 50 in this fic. I haven't read Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. I KNOW that Rowling said in an interview that Albus was in Gryffindor, I never said the opposite. I also love the name Mercedes. I got to love it when I first read The count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. There's a Mercedes in there. Have you read that book?

_Zenon Lee_: don't worry, the triplets won't be particularly important in the fic. Yes, your suspicion about Dinky is right. I have no idea about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Ask Gred or Forge :) Keep H and G from having sex? Why should I? *innocent look*. I loved the basilisk scene, it was one of the best! I think Hagrid will die in OotP. I think that even if Snape dies, he'll die in book 7, not in book 5. I also believe that Rowling will kill off Dumbledore, but only in book 7. 

_AmandaPanda_: haven't you seen it yet? I hope you'll get to see it soon, it's fabulous, I've already seen it twice!

_figgiesblazin_: you love the triplets? Other people hate them. Weird. Anyway, it is possible that H and G used the charm to tell how many kids they were about to have, they just didn't mention it to anyone. Don't worry, this time it's just one kid. I don't know how Ron would react to Ginny buying Honeydukes. I guess he'd be happy about it.

_CandyGurl83_: the caretaker won't be a major character, but he'll still be important for some funny reason. And when you readers get to know what it is, you'll all be yelling at me: 'we would never have thought this of you, you evil/crazy author!', I foresee it - *Agi glimpses into her crystal ball and sniggers into her palm to hide her amusement*

_White Raven_:yes, I would also have liked to see their faces when they got to know about the new pregnancy. Especially Sirius' face :))

_goldenstar555_: I'm glad I could make you smile.

_Belle_: if truth be told, I have no idea what a Lex Luthor/Clark Kent relationship is like. I saw the Superman films, but I don't really remember them. So, what about Lex and Clark?

_Jules Rhys_: the idea is nice, but I never make name-the-baby contests.

_Inken_: Dan got sorted on Thursday and Ginny got to know about it on Saturday. So there wasn't a whole week between the two events, just two days.

_DJRowley_: you meant that motion of non-confidence? Yeah, that came from The Phantom Menace.

_Kristen Michelle_: there won't be any Draco/Ginny in this fic. LOL, I also had a silly feeling when staying back to watch the scene after the credits – the cleaning people were already there, looking strangely and me, but I thought 'I don't care, I'm going to stay and watch it', and they didn't say a word, so there was no problem.

_pamela-potter-24_: I think that 'AGAIN?????' was told by Sirius.

_Amaranta_: the new pregnancy is important for some reason, but definitely not the way you'd think. Wait it out. I also think that Draco is hot, I never ever hated him. You have 9 brothers? What does it feel like to be the only girl (or do you have sisters as well?) Yes, Bradley will be kind of important. Salazar's diary won't come up again, but there will be more about the founders and there will be something in connection with the wizard-knight tournament Salazar had mentioned. You are eager to see all the nasty surprises laying ahead? Glad to hear it, because there will be a lot of them! I've just sent chapters 27 and 28 to my beta and she freaked out when she read their ends (both of them have terribly evil cliffies), LOL. The nastiest surprises will be in those chappies, and I'm very proud of them :)

_Allie_: I did :)

_FireBolt9000_: sorry, but no baby for Sirius. But don't worry, there will be enough babies in the story to satisfy you :)

_apple-pie_: did I hurry enough?

_veronik_:I'm glad you saw the Lockhart scene at the end :) I'm nothing like a Gryffindor, I guess I'm a bit more like a Slytherin than a Gryffindor, but I'm more of a Hufflepuff than a Slytherin, and I'm more of a Ravenclaw than a Hufflepuff. So, Ravenclaw wins.

_LilGinny_: yeah, I know what gégegyulladás is :) Thanks for looking up in the Hungarian dictionary :) I'm glad that both you and your sister are feeling okay now. 

_Ice Kitten_: big family, yeah:)

_Drex_: no, it has nothing to do with the goldfish. The last scene was about Lockhart in a straitjacket.

_WolfEyes_: yes, that motion of non-confidence DID come from SW EPI.

_PepsiAngel_: Gildylicious? I love this word! And I'm going to use it in the future! LOL :)

_Aimee:_ yes, for some reason Dan will turn out to be okay in Slytherin.

_dragon tiger_: for the time being it's very unlikely for me to have time to read anything but schoolbooks :( My exams are looming closer and closer, *sigh*.

_Desiree: _you're welcome :))

_Katie Bell_: yes, Draco and Gabie will get together.


	8. The day after

A/N: I'd like to thank you for the lovely reviews and also for wishing me _May the Force be with you!_ :) 

Since this is the last time that I'm updating before Christmas (next update: end of next week), I'd like to wish you all very happy holidays, and lots of Harry Potter presents (if you like the HP merchandising at all :) Here's my little Christmas Card for you: since I couldn't create a link here (dunno why, but it didn't work), paste this into your browser and you'll see it: **http://www.gryffindortower.net/Gallery/Agi%20Vega/merryxmas.jpg**

This is likely to be the chapter that can be described as the 'most build-up' chapter of all. Not exciting at all, just a bridge. But you have to cross this bridge to get to the other side of the river where adventures await the characters… Chapter 8 

**The day after **

For the first time since the Sorting, Daniel had a reason to feel a little bit happy to be in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor; still, he felt nothing but bitterness. Had he been in Gryffindor, he also would have gone into the forest with the others, and Gryffindor would have lost 400 points instead of 300. On the other hand, if he had gone into the forest with the Weasleys, then there would have been no one to run to Snape (given that the map was in Daniel's possession) and Gryffindor wouldn't have lost any points. But of course, all the Weasleys and Dan could have been killed by some horrid forest creature.

No matter how many times he thought the events over, the outcome was always the fact that he had caused Gryffindor to lose so many points. This thought didn't make him happy at all. He was a Slytherin, thus he should have been delighted to see the rival house lose so many points, but as Gryffindor had lost those points, so had Daniel lost his friends.

He spent the whole night after the unicorn-adventure wide awake, tossing and turning, his cousins' angry voices echoing in his mind. Abu, his pet monkey, tried to calm him down a bit by snuggling into his arms, but now not even he could console the broken-down boy.

Plans about getting his cousins' friendship back kept chasing each other in his mind, but none of them seemed accomplishable.

*Why did I listen to Norbert to go to Snape?* he thought bitterly, looking at the flames of a torch on the dungeon wall filtering a bit through the green velvet material of his four-poster. The other four Slytherin boys in his dorm were fast asleep, Donald Rookwood snoring aloud. Dan wished he could sleep just as peacefully as they did, but his guilty conscience did not let him. *Guilt?* he mused. *Is it right for me to feel guilty at all?* Norbert's words came to his mind – Norbert's words telling him that Kevin and the twins didn't deserve his friendship if they hated him for wanting to save their lives. *Norbert is right...* the boy thought, *I wanted to help them by sacrificing the map and all they could say as thanks was 'you idiot, you are not my friend anymore!' I should not feel pangs of remorse... if someone should feel guilty, then it's Kevin, Viv and Val. If they don't see that I did it with good intentions, then... then just let them think whatever they want!* with that, he furiously punched his pillow, imagining punching Kevin's face instead. His sudden move woke Abu who started to squeak angrily (who knows, he might have been dreaming about a pretty female monkey).

"Make that damn furball shut up!" Jerry Travers growled from the other end of the dorm.

Before Dan could reply that Abu was not a 'damn furball', the curtain of his bed opened and young Malfoy climbed in.

"Cannot sleep, eh?" he whispered, seating himself next to Dan.

"Not really." Dan sighed, pulling himself up to a sitting position.

"It was not your fault. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"You don't need to tell me any more times... I have realised it myself. My cousins are utterly stupid and from now on I won't give a damn about their opinion," Daniel replied in a low voice.

"That's more like it!" Norbert slapped him in the back in a friendly way. "A game of wizard chess? I don't think I could go back to sleep now."

"All right," Dan shrugged, reaching for his glasses. "_Lumos," the little flame appeared at once at the tip of his wand and he shot his friend a triumphant grin._

"I see you have perfectly mastered it, just like the spark-conjuring charm. Don't worry, Dan, you're gonna be okay at Charms."

"With your help, maybe," young Potter nodded. "I still fear, though, how I will perform at Transfiguration. First lesson today."

"We'll see," Norbert shrugged. "But you heard McGonagall yesterday, pouring her heart out to the headmaster... she is playing the tough lady, but deep down she has feelings. She won't snap your head off if you can't turn a toothpick into a needle right away."

"I hope so," Dan smiled, thankful for his friend's encouragement. Maybe, with Norbert at his side, he'd manage to keep going, even with his three cousins' looking daggers at him all the time... because he was sure that Kevin and the twins could turn into just as terrible enemies as great friends they had been.

Instead of succumbing to lethargy caused by these thoughts, Daniel grabbed the chessboard handed to him by Norbert, and ordered his pawn to move to D5.

* * * * *

As he and Norbert went down to have breakfast that morning, they saw several Gryffindors gathering around the huge hourglasses showing the house points, madly shouting and waving their balled fists. Dan also managed to hear some Gryffindor students murmur the name Weasley, then one of them pointed at Daniel and yelled: "He told Snape! The Weasleys said you betrayed them! You sneak!"

"Come on," Norbert pulled his friend away from the hourglasses and the furious Gryffindors. Over breakfast the two friends received several murderous glances sending them the promise 'you'll pay for this, filthy Slytherins!', and Dan decided not to open any letters he happened to get in the near future – under the current circumstances, he could well imagine receiving curses in envelopes.

While the Gryffindors seemed to hate him (even Lily diverted her stare when he looked at her), the other Slytherins were very grateful and kept slapping him and Norbert in the back, yelling 'Well done!'

His housemates suddenly seemed to have accepted him, but it still didn't cheer Dan up. He would gladly have given up the other Slytherins' friendship if he could make up with Kevin, Viviane and Valentine. 

Their first Transfiguration lesson proved to be even more unpleasant than Daniel had expected. McGonagall kept sending the two Slytherin boys piercing glances. Dan supposed it was because of the previous evening's events.

Norbert had been right: their first task at Transfiguration was to turn a toothpick into a needle. Daniel didn't manage to cope with it, but to his great relief most of the students had problems as well. Lavinia Flint turned the toothpick pink, and it was still the greatest achievement of all the Slytherins.

To everyone's – especially McGonagall's – surprise it was Julie Dumbledore of Hufflepuff who first managed to make a perfect needle. She gave Minerva a timid smile. The professor rewarded her success with ten points to Hufflepuff, but she did not praise Julie at all. As if the transformation had been accomplished by Hufflepuff house, not Julie.

As far as Daniel could tell, Minerva was deliberately cold towards the little girl. Could she really be jealous of her?

McGonagall ordered the children to keep trying the transformation in the rest of the class. Around the half of the lesson, Norbert proudly showed his friend a pretty needle – all the problem with it was that its pin-point was missing.

Ten minutes before the end of the lesson Gilda Lockhart nudged Daniel.

"What?" the boy scowled at her furiously – she had interrupted his new attempt at turning his toothpick into a needle. He felt he was close to transforming wood into metal at last when she disturbed him in concentration.

Gilda reached into her robes and pulled out something familiar, pushing it into Dan's hands. "Here."

"How...?" the boy gaped at the girl.

Gilda shrugged. "I heard Snape telling you off because you allegedly stole this from somewhere, then I heard your cousins yell at you because you 'lost' it. I thought it must mean a lot to you, so I stole it back."

"But... how? It was in Snape's room, wasn't it?" Dan asked, clutching at the map as though he never wanted to let it out of his hands again.

"This morning I pretended to be interested in a fur-growing potion and asked for Snape's help," she said. "While he gave me a couple of instructions and mentioned books I should check out of the library, I 'accidentally' picked up this thing from his table. He wasn't looking at me right then and I happened to replace it with a blank parchment so that he surely wouldn't find out who the culprit was... he left for a lesson right when I exited his study, so he will not notice the change for a while..." she gave the boys an impish grin. "And even if he does, it doesn't matter – anyone could have broken into his room during this lesson and I can't be suspected – I was here all along at Transfiguration, McGonagall could attest to it."

"Gilda..." Dan started admiringly. "I could kiss you!"

"Don't, if you don't want me to beat you up again," she replied. "Anyway, I did not do this out of mere good will – I want to know why this parchment is so important."

Daniel glanced up at McGonagall to see that she was writing their homework on the blackboard then he turned to Gilda again:

"Do you want to come to Honeydukes tonight?"

"Dan!" Norbert hissed at him. "You don't want her to..."

"Potter, Malfoy!" McGonagall's voice made Dan realise that they were still at Transfiguration. "Twenty points from Slytherin for not paying attention in my class. Class dismissed."

"She's picking on us!" Norbert fumed as they left the classroom.

"Of course she is picking on us! We made her house lose 300 points!" Daniel replied. "I'd hate us if I were in her place."

"So, what about this Honeydukes business?" Gilda cut in, joining the boys as they trotted downstairs, out into the park where Gilderoy Lockhart was already waiting for them to begin the very first P.E. lesson of their lives.

* * * * *

As long as the weather didn't turn too chilly, the students were supposed to have P.E. outdoors on the same part of the park where Madame Hooch – and now professor Longbottom – had the Flying lessons.

After the previous day's storm the sky was wonderfully bright as though the rain had washed it clear. Its light aquamarine colour was here and there dotted with small, frilly clouds that kept swimming lazily across it.

All in all: the weather was very favouring for an outdoor class.

As they approached the place appointed for the lesson, Daniel saw Aberforth Dumbledore feeding Angel, the baby unicorn, with sugar lumps. Aberforth waved at the boy from Hagrid's house. Dan supposed that the Care of Magical Creatures class was still held around the former groundkeeper's hut, even with Hagrid living in France for about a decade now.

Daniel wanted to talk Norbert into going and visiting Angel before their next class started, but changed his mind immediately when he saw the third year Gryffindors approaching Aberforth. Lily was also among them, sending her brother a rather dark glance, then turning to talk to Christopher Wood.

"Even she hates me," Dan pouted and followed Norbert to join the other firsties and a jovially waving Gilderoy Lockhart.

P.E. was the only class that all the four houses had together. Dan wasn't too happy about this and tried to get as far away from his Gryffindor cousins – and professor Lockhart – as possible.

To their surprise, Gilda Lockhart also moved to stand behind the other Slytherins, looking as though she was hiding from her father.

Professor Lockhart had dropped his robes for the occasion and strutted in front of the children wearing a pair of tight-fitting trousers and even more tight-fitting vest, trainers and a band of pink silk tied around his head that made him resemble Rambo in a Valentine Day's attire. His arms (and a remarkable part of his chest) were bare, making the present female students heave deep, dreamy sighs.

Daniel was furious to notice that Liu Chang – who stood rather close to him (or rather: to whom he had deliberately stood very close) – was eyeing the professor with a misty glance, not even noticing Dan. Dan cleared his throat to draw the girl's attention to himself.

"Oh, hello, Daniel," she gave him a quick smile, then turned back to Gilderoy who started to explain the importance of P.E. to the students (his speech in a nutshell: _physical education makes you healthier, and if you are healthy, then you look good. P.E. gives you muscles and if you have muscles, you look good. P.E. helps you keep fit, gives you stamina, and stamina is exactly what you need to continue looking good_.)

"Hello, Liu," the boy replied, trying to engage her attention again. "Pretty interesting this P.E., huh?"

"Very," she nodded eagerly and dropped her robes on professor Lockhart's advice (_you can move much more freely without those_).

"Put your eyes back into their sockets," Norbert whispered into his friend's ear, because Daniel was gaping at Ms. Chang's curves that were revealed without her robes. She must have early developed because her figure already looked like that of a sixteen-year-old.

Fortunately Liu didn't notice the boy's unabashed stare, because she was too absorbed in doing sit-ups. In thought, Daniel compared Liu's figure to that of his sister Lily and drew the conclusion that Lily – even though two years older than Liu – had only half as 'curvy' a body as the Ravenclaw girl. 

Dan, being a twelve-year-old boy, had not much idea about female sexual development, periods and stuff, but during the last summer he had found a book in Lily's room called '_What to do when you turn adolescent – a young witch's guide to becoming a woman_'. Lily must have been reading it in secret, but Daniel had the bad habit of rummaging around in his big sister's room in her absence, and he had happened to open that book where a bookmark was sticking out of it. The chapter Lily had been reading was titled '_When your body changes'_ and Dan, having dipped into the book just for fun, had realised that Lily's body hadn't changed at all – it looked just like it did in her childhood. All that had changed was her temper: Dan thought she was turning more and more annoying. When the book had started to go into explaining the _Libressus Invisiblus charm, Daniel had hastily closed it and decided to read something manlier to re-establish his equilibrium. He had sneaked into his parents' room to pick '_The bloody Gringotts robbery_' off the shelf, when his glance had fallen on another book called '_Kama Sutra'_. Curious, he had pulled it off the shelf and opened it – then had wished he hadn't done so. It was a book full of disgusting pictures... now that he was watching Liu, those pictures came to his mind and Norbert had to ask him why he had turned as red as the setting sun._

Even Liu turned to him with a worried expression.

"Are you all right, Daniel?" she stopped doing sit-ups and pressed her hand on the boy's forehead. Feeling the girl's soft, cool hand on his skin, Dan turned even pinker.

"No, your temperature is normal," she said. "You must have overworked a bit. You aren't used to such hard physical work, are you?"

"No, I just..." Dan mumbled, turning even more crimson with embarrassment.

"Oh, Potter has overworked?" came the mocking voice of Kevin Weasley from the group of Gryffindors. "Or have you been tired out by running to teachers and telling on your classmates?"

"Oh, shut up!" Gilda yelled at Kevin.

"What happened?" professor Lockhart asked with a flashy smile, showing all his thirty-two teeth. "Is something amiss, kids?"

"Daniel is sick, professor," Liu Chang replied willingly, making the boy hide his face into his palms, hearing the Gryffindors' malicious laughter.

"Are you, Daniel?" the teacher crouched down next to the boy. "Should we take you up to the infirmary?"

"No! I'm fine!" Dan replied angrily. "Really."

"Are you sure?" Gilderoy asked, worried. "I don't want any students to get sick in my class. But if you don't want to go to Madame Pomfrey, then I guess I could give you a simple boosting charm."

"No, no, thank you, professor!" Dan protested, having heard enough of Lockhart's famous charms. He did not feel like ending up growing his ribs back after an unfortunate de-boning a' la Lockhart.

"Then I suggest you go down into your dorm and have a rest. You seem to need it, boy."

Having no better idea to escape from the Weasleys' teasing and everyone else's curious glances, young Potter decided to go inside and never ever think of Kama Sutra at P.E. in the future.

"See you at lunchtime," he murmured to Norbert and left. As he passed by the Gryffindors on his way up to the castle, he heard several voices hissing 'loser' and 'weakling'.

* * * * *

After entering the castle, the first person he met was his father, wearing a rather austere expression.

"May I ask what you are doing in here instead of being at Professor Lockhart's class?" Harry asked. The previously always so impish and cheerful 'daddy' was gone and Daniel stated in himself that he had barely seen Harry this morose before. 

"You too are blaming me, aren't you?" the boy burst out, nearing a nervous breakdown. "It was not my fault, all right? I was worried about my stupid cousins and Snape was the first teacher we could find to help them! I'm terribly sorry that your precious Gryffindor lost so many points, but I thought that their damn lives were more important! And if you allow me now, I'm off to meet the caretaker and start my detention!"

"Daniel..." Harry gaped at the boy, who had turned on his heels and ran away.

Dan hoped that his father wouldn't follow him and raced down the corridor. In fact, he had not the slightest intention of starting his detention with Mr. Bradley right now. He'd have plenty of time for that in the afternoon or evening. All he wanted now was a bit of peace.

No such luck.

When he had almost reached the staircase leading into the dungeons and thought that nothing bad could happen to him for a while, he caught a glimpse of a small boy madly waving at him.

"Daniel! Oi, Daniel!" it was James Lupin, Remus and Stella Sinistra Lupin's only child. He was about three years younger than Dan, but he was the most outgoing little guy Dan had ever known. He was even more talkative than all the Weasley and Potter children put together, which was saying something. There was practically not a single second when he kept his mouth shut, except maybe for sleeping. 

Daniel had met James about four or five times before, when the Lupins had visited the Potters at Black Manor, and every time they met, he had the expression that Jimmie's parents should seriously consider placing a muzzle charm on their son. Young Lupin's over-talkativeness hadn't been that much of a problem for Daniel, if Jimmie would have divided his attention among the Potter family-members and would have tortured all of his siblings equally. However, Jim Lupin's attention always seemed to be focused on Daniel only. When Dan complained about this to his father, Harry waved and told his son about a boy named Colin Creevey, whose behaviour strongly reminded at that of James Lupin. Back then Daniel had asked Harry incredulously: 'If that Colin Creevey kept following you around because you were famous, The Boy Who Lived, then why does Jimmie follow me around? I'm no hero like you were... uh _are,' he had corrected himself to get rewarded by a grin from his dad. 'I mean... really. There's nothing special about me. I don't even have a scar. Then why doesn't he leave me alone? Or why doesn't he persecute my siblings as well?' Harry hadn't been able to answer, because he had had no idea._

So, after all those years of their acquaintanceship, Daniel had never found out why James had decided to reward him with his special attention.

"Daniel, oh, Daniel!" Jim clasped his hands in delight. "I'm so happy I'm seeing you again! I heard you were sorted into Slytherin, how is that possible, Daniel? And I heard you made Gryffindor lose 300 points! How did you do it? I mean, it's such a great achievement, no one at Hogwarts has ever managed to make a rival house lose this many points! Of course I should be rooting for Gryffindor, since my dad was in there, but I can't help admiring Slytherin's cleverness! Up till now I have always wanted to be a Gryffindor, but now that you're in Slytherin, I'm not sure anymore. I guess I'd be really happy to get into your house, Daniel!..." and it continued like this, words pouring out of young Lupin's mouth as though he had been a tap turned on.

After about five minutes of patient waiting Daniel was more than grateful to Abu for appearing out of nowhere and dropping a vase on Jimmie's head.

As the boy lay on the floor, massaging his aching head, Daniel escaped from him with the promise of sending Madame Pomfrey to put him right.

"Quite good aiming from your furry little friend! I've grown to like him!" Peeves appeared in front of him, cackling, and followed Dan towards the dungeons, not caring at all that the last thing Dan needed was his company. Abu had jumped into his arms, giving mischievous glances to Peeves. Those two must have befriended each other. "You know what, Danniekins?" the poltergeist said, "I've grown to like you, too! Those Gryffindor gits have long been annoying me, and I'm delighted that finally someone showed them where they belong! Minus 275 points!" he laughed, delighted.

"Sod off, Peeves! And you behave yourself next time, Abu!" the boy growled at him and decided to learn that muzzle charm from his father to use it on Peeves - then he remembered that Harry was quite angry with him for the time being.

"Daniel?" another voice called from behind his back.

"What is it?" he burst out, then turned around to see Hermione. "Oh, sorry, Aunt Hermione... er, Professor Weasley," he hung his head. "I did not want to..."

"Don't apologise, Dan... and just call me Aunt Hermione," she smiled. "I think you have been under great pressure lately. Come, let's talk."

She guided the boy (and his monkey) into her nearby study and motioned him to sit down.

"If you also want to tell me off for making Gryffindor lose those points..." he began, but she waved to silence him.

"I do not want to tell you off for anything. I do not blame you for anything. On the contrary: I believe you did the right thing. You wanted to save my children and Kevin, and for that I'm thankful to you."

Daniel looked up from the floor he had been examining and gaped at his aunt in a surprised way. "You don't...?"

"No, I don't blame you," she shook her head. "I know it must be hard for you now to deal with all the Gryffindor's dislike..."

"_Hatred, you mean," he corrected her, stroking Abu who was lying in his lap._

"Hatred, then," she nodded. "I still remember what it felt like to feel so many people's despise. I went through the same in my first year when your father, Professor Longbottom and me lost Gryffindor 150 points."

"My father..." Daniel grunted. "Even he is treating me like..." he looked away from his aunt, searching for the right words. "...he is... I mean... he wanted to tell me off again. I have barely arrived at Hogwarts and he is following me around, wherever I go..." he remembered his case with the Mirror of Erised only too well. "He is treating me as though I could not take care of myself..."

"I take you find him a bit... _annoying," Hermione perceived with eyes glinting in a friendly way._

"Not annoying, but..." Dan's voice trailed off. "All right, annoying, then."

"...and it is totally natural," she said. "All adolescent kids find their parents annoying... mines, too. They believe Ron and I are meddling with their lives too much. But parents don't do it in order to annoy their children... they do it out of love, having their children's best interests at heart. Your father is also doing it out of love. In his case this might be twice as strong as in other people' case, since he had no parents. Throughout his childhood he craved for a mother and a father to love him and care for him... I'm sure he wouldn't have minded to have a bit over-protective parents... he would have been glad to have a father at all," Hermione gave Dan a look that made him have the feeling that she could see into the depths of his soul. "You are a very lucky boy, Daniel, to have a father like Harry."

"I know... I guess... It's just that now even he hates me."

Hermione gave him a scolding stare – so did Abu. "How could you _suppose that he hated you?"_

"How could my cousins suppose that I betrayed them?" he retorted. "Anyway... I saw dad's face. I've just met him and his expression told me everything. He is angry. He is blaming me."

"I don't think he is. He is angry, but not with you. He has just had a nasty row with Professor Snape," seeing the boy's interest, she carried on. "I happened to be in the bathroom twenty minutes ago when I heard two voices quarrelling in front of the door. Your father was questioning Snape's decision of taking 300 points from Gryffindor and Snape replied that your father should not poke his nose into other people's business. He even remarked that Harry had no word in this school, being a new teacher, while he had been teaching here for twenty-five years. Harry retorted that the amount of years taught here did not seem to be in parallel with the ability of making wise decisions. Snape closed their debate by shouting that Harry was still that insolent kid he used to teach and Harry replied that Snape was still that heartless old rook who used to teach him," Hermione finished the story with a grin that made Daniel also allow himself a smile. So, the reason for his father's moroseness was not that he was angry with his son, but his nasty row with good old Severus. "Damn," he breathed," I have shouted at him like that... I didn't even let him tell me what he wanted... Now he really has a reason to be mad at me!"

"Then maybe you should look for him and apologise," she suggested.

Dan nodded and stood up. "Thanks for understanding me, you're a cool aunt, really."

"Why, thank you," she smiled.

* * * * *

The house-elves had made steak with mashed potatoes for lunch and Daniel devoured it happily. For the first time since the previous evening he felt a bit better - a bit relieved.  His second discussion with his father turned out to be all right and he got to know that Harry really wasn't blaming him. Harry only seemed to be mad at Snape and called the Potions teacher things that Dan had only heard from Sirius before. Dan made a mental note to use these expressions in the future, but also promised his father not to tell anyone that he had heard them from him. The relationship between father and son was back to normal. All Harry was a bit upset about was the loss of the Marauder's Map - Snape had gloated to him about having burnt it. Daniel pretended to be very broken-down by it and decided not to mention to his dad that he got back the map and the parchment burnt by Snape was not the map at all but a 'decoy-parchment' that Gilda had replaced the map with. This way Harry wouldn't need to lie to anyone about his son being a Marauder - he could say with good conscience that Daniel had no such map at all.

Since the Slytherins had no classes in the afternoon, Dan, Norbert and Gilda planned a visit into Honeydukes before dinner. They were supposed to meet in the Slytherin common room at four p.m. and until then Dan had lots of time to spend in detention, helping the caretaker.

Bert Bradley turned out to be a nice man with a good sense of humour, and he didn't give the boy too much work to do. Dan only had to clean the floor of Mr Bradley's room, but - since it was a small room - he was ready with it soon. While tidying the room he couldn't _not notice the books piled on the caretaker's desk: all of them seemed to be dealing with Potions. The boy remembered his first Potions class in which Mr. Bradley had admonished him that he was using wrong and dangerous ingredients for his potion. Dan also remembered how surprised Snape was to get to know someone who actually understood a bit of his subject._

Back then, Bert admitted having taught Chemistry at a Muggle school and being a Muggle himself.

"Mr. Bradley?" Dan asked before leaving.

"Yes?"

"If you are a Muggle, then how did you know about Hogwarts? Or are you a squib?"

"No, Mr. Potter," the caretaker shook his head. "I'm no squib, I'm a full-blooded Muggle. My brother, however, is a Muggle-born wizard. He even played at Whimbourne Wasps together with Mr Longbottom."

"Oh, I see..." the boy nodded. "But... what gave you the idea to come and work at Hogwarts?"

"That, Mr Potter, only concerns the headmaster and me. Thank you for your help. I'll be expecting you tomorrow."

Dan nodded, understanding that the caretaker did not want to answer his question. Well, he must have his reasons, the boy thought and headed for his common room to meet the other two Marauders and begin their very first adventure.

* * * * *

The trio started down the corridor, Daniel keeping one eye on the Map all the time - just like his father had suggested him in the purple room last Friday. They met Professor Lockhart on their way (Dan quickly pocketed the parchment) - the P.E. teacher immediately asked the boy about his condition. Daniel hastily assured him that he was totally all right and there was no need to worry about him. Gilderoy slapped him in the back, gave him and Norbert a wide grin and left.

"He didn't even greet you," Norbert turned to Gilda. 

The girl shrugged. 

"He didn't even smile at you," Dan added.

"Why would he?" she snapped. "It is enough for him that I'm the way I am!"

"Now wait a minute!" Dan cut in. "You mean... he does not love you?"

She shook her head. "Maybe he loves me. Mum says he does... but even if he does, he can hide it pretty well."

"But... why?"

"I guess he always wanted to have a son, but my mother could only give him a daughter... and a daughter as different from him as possible."

"Oh... so he'd be glad if you had blonde curly locks and a liking for everything that is pink?" Norbert asked.

"Well... about," Gilda nodded. "But it's not just that... it's more that I take after my Egyptian ancestors who were all warriors. Tough warriors."

"So that's why you love beating the crap out of people," Daniel grinned.

"Yeah... I guess so," she grinned back. "Okay, are we going anywhere or stay here and discuss my rebellious blood and lack of blonde locks?"

Dan nodded, realising that they were supposed to be going to Honeydukes. He pulled the map out of his robe pocket again just to freeze in horror. There was a dot very close, approaching way too quickly.

"Snape!" he whispered, pointing in the left direction.

"Come!" Norbert opened a nearby door, pushed Dan and Gilda through it and shut it behind themselves.

The dot labelled 'Severus Snape' walked down the corridor, not suspecting that the three Marauders were so close.

"Whew!" Dan wiped his forehead, relieved. "That was a close one. He would have questioned us why we were here instead of writing homework in our common room."

"Harry?" a voice spoke up behind them.

The children turned around to see the ghost of a sullen teenage girl hovering above a tap. They had obviously run into a bathroom.

"Oh, you are not him," the ghost pouted. "But you look awfully lot like him."

"I'm his son, that's why," Daniel replied. "And you are...?"

"Oh, of course you don't know me!" she cried. "I heard from Headless Nick that you recognised him the first time you met him, surely because your parents had told you about him! But of course they didn't tell you about _me!" the ghost-girl wailed, her eyes full of tears behind her pearly glasses. "Naturally, they did not think Moaning Myrtle was important or interesting enough to tell about!"_

"Er..." Dan had no idea what to reply. He did not want to hurt the ghost's feelings even more by admitting that he had never heard of her. "Er... you are wrong. My father did tell me about you."

The ghost's expression immediately changed from morose to interested, vivid and even cheerful. "Oh, did he? And what did he tell you about me?"

"Er... he said you were the one who..." Dan was at his wit's end. "The one who..."

"The one who helped him find the Chamber of Secrets! The one who helped him solve the egg's riddle! The one who helped him in the lake!" Myrtle shouted angrily. "The one who witnessed your sister's conception! It's obvious that you haven't been told about meeeee!" she hid her face into her hands, sobbing aloud.

"Witnessed... witnessed my sister's conception?" Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Wow, tell me about it!"

Both Myrtle and Gilda shot the boy a scolding look.

Dan shrugged. "All right... it was pleasure getting to know you, Myrtle. I might come back later and then you can tell me about..."

"Dan!" Gilda hissed. "You aren't supposed to come here again... this is a girl's bathroom, if you haven't noticed."

"Well, given the lack of urinals, it must be," Norbert smirked. "C'mon, guys, or we'll never get to Honeydukes."

* * * * *

The three children made sure that no one was around when they reached the One-Eyed Witch's statue.

"So, what do we do now?" Norbert asked.

"I guess there is some kind of an incantation to open the secret passage here. Dad told me about it - the hunchback of the witch is supposed to open if you say..." he looked at the Marauder's Map to see a small bubble appear above the three dots labelled 'Daniel Potter', 'Norbert D. Malfoy' and 'Gilda Lockhart'. "_Dissendium!_

"What?"

Dan pointed his wand at the statue and repeated the incantation. To his surprise, the spell worked for him. There had been barely any charms that he managed to perform at the first try. 

A small opening appeared on the statue - an opening just big enough for a thin person.

The trio climbed into the opening and slid down on a chute into a dark underground corridor.

"_Lumos!" all three of them said and started down the path._

"I'm really going to visit this Myrtle again," Dan spoke up after a while. "She could tell me interesting things... I always knew mum and dad conceived Lily here at school, but I never asked the details... and I don't think they'd tell me, even if I asked..."

"And probably this Myrtle could tell you about your own conception as well?" Norbert gave him a mischievous grin (or at least Dan supposed that his friend was grinning, because he couldn't make out his features in the dark.)

"Were you... were you also conceived here?" Gilda asked incredulously. "I never thought that Harry Potter had such..."

"...low morals?" Dan laughed, starting to climb some stairs. "Yeah, very likely I was conceived here. If I count backwards, I come to the conclusion that it had to happen in November of 1998. And in November of 1998 my parents were definitely still studying here at Hogwarts. My mischievous mummy and daddy... ouch!" he massaged the top of his head that he had knocked into something solid.

"We've arrived. Dan has just run into the trapdoor," Norbert perceived.

"Well, let's open it, then," Gilda said and carefully pushed it upwards.

They climbed out of the tunnel to find themselves in Honeydukes' cellar. The cellar was filled with crates - the shop had only been closed two weeks earlier and the owners seemed to have left some stocks they couldn't sell before the set date for closing.

"Yummy!" Norbert's mouth watered as he opened a nearby crate that contained liquorice wands and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. Of course only non-perishable (or not so quickly perishable) sweets were stored in there (the owners might have eaten the leftover of the perishable goods such as ice mice and chocolate mousses).

The boys opened crate after crate and stuffed their pockets full with sweets. Only Gilda looked a bit worried.

"We are taking these things without paying! Isn't that... theft?"

"No," Dan shook his head. "The shop will soon belong to my parents and they'll surely pay the current owner for the leftover stocks as well. So, if we take it, then it is the same as nicking cookies from mummy's kitchen jars. No big deal."

"If you say so..." she said somewhat insecurely. "But I don't want to steal from your parents, either."

"Oh, come off it, Gilda! What kind of Slyhterin are you if you are so concerned about morals?" Norbert growled.

"Even Slytherins can have a conscience, you know," she retorted.

"Anyway, we aren't taking more than twenty sickles in value..." Dan replied. Seeing Gilda's expression he let out a sigh. "Oh, all right. We'll pay them," he reached into his robes and pulled out a couple of coins - he had bought quite a lot of sweets from the trolley-witch on the Hogwarts Express and forgot to empty the remainder of the money out of his pockets. He counted 20 sickles and headed upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Norbert scowled.

"To the cash-register. I'm going to put the money into it."

Gilda shot Daniel a grateful stare combined with an 'I-knew-you'd-never-steal'-look.

The trio entered the empty shop, careful to make sure that no one could see them from the street. Hiding behind the counter, they sneaked to the cash-register and opened it. Naturally it was empty - the owners might have been trusting people, but not _this trusting._

Daniel dropped the coins into it then froze. There were two figures approaching the shop. Harry, and a woman unknown to the children.

"Hurry!" Norbert waved, they crouched down and ran to the staircase leading into the cellar. They raced down and hid behind a huge crate.

"Why not go into the tunnel right away?" Gilda whispered as the front door of Honeydukes opened.

"They'd hear the trapdoor creak and we'd be caught!" Dan whispered back.

Voices were coming from upstairs:

"So, when is your family going to move into Hogsmeade? And where are you going to live? The flat above the shop isn't big enough for so many children, is it?"

"I have seen a couple of houses that are up for sale," Harry's voice replied. "Ginny and I will choose one soon."

"Oh, the joys of having money..." the female laughed. "You can talk so easily about buying the shop _and a family house."_

 "Not that you can complain, Cho," came the answer. "With all those restaurants you own, you are probably a hundred times richer than me."

"Yeah, very likely," the woman chuckled. "How came you already have keys to the shop?"

"Yesterday evening, Ginny and I met the owners and signed a contract in which we obliged ourselves to buy Honeydukes. The owners gave us the keys to come here and inspect our future property. So here I am."

"I'm lucky I managed to catch you in the village. I wanted to talk to you," the woman said, her tone different this time.

"About what?"

"Lots of things. For example... the way we parted."

A long pause followed.

"I don't understand why you want to talk to me about that," Harry replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I perfectly remember how we parted. You told me that I was a... how exactly did you formulate it...? Oh, yeah... you said I was a _cute little fellow but you could never feel the same way about me as you felt about Cedric. You kissed me on the cheek and left."_

"I could not do otherwise, Harry. Things were way too confused... I was still so much under the effect of Ced's death..."

"Even two years after he passed away?" came a bit miffed reply.

"Yes. Maybe. I don't know... I didn't know it back then. I was really confused about my feelings... He was the great love of my life, but I lost him. I thought I'd never get over his death, then I got to know you better… but I thought I still loved Ced… I might have been wrong. I guess I used this delusion to escape from reality... to deny that it was you whom I liked."

"Liked... or _loved?"_

"Loved."

"Great," Harry snorted derisively. "Why, Cho? Why didn't you tell me?" he asked as if accusing her. "I remember watching you at the end of my sixth year holding your diploma in your hand and walking away... walking out of my life. I felt my heart break... then came Ginny and put its pieces back together. Made me forget you, and I was happy to have forgotten you. So why... why on earth have you brought up these old memories? Why have you told me that you _loved me after all these years?"_

"I thought you deserved to know the truth."

"Then tell me. If you have started, then tell me the whole truth, Cho. Why _didn't you want to love me?"_

"Because... I was scared," she replied, her voice wavering. "Because there was You-Know-Who at your heels... I feared that loving you would get... get me and my family..."

"...into trouble?" he finished the sentence.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I was afraid. I was a coward. And I'm terribly... terribly sorry about that."

"You don't need to be sorry about being afraid. Those times were horrible. I was afraid, too. Everyone was afraid. I understand and I can't blame you for being scared. However, I cannot forgive you for lying to me. For having robbed me of the _hope to have you some day. You broke my heart... and the fact that it was just a lie... is unacceptable. I'm sorry, Cho... I'm sorry for having to say this, but I wish you had never told me the truth at all."_

"I understand," her voice trailed off. "I'm sorry. Could we... could we be friends at least?"

"That is _all we could be," Harry answered seriously._

"Okay... I guess I should be going now. Forgive me for upsetting you, I... I just had to tell you. If I hadn't, then... it would have suffocated me. I managed to bury this feeling for years, but after I met you again, it resurfaced. Do you know the feeling when you need to tell someone something so badly that you feel you'd die if you didn't?"

"I know," answered a bit calmer voice.

"Then you understand me. Good bye, Harry."

"Good bye, Cho."

* * * * *

Half an hour later the front door of the shop creaked again, indicating that Harry had left.

The children climbed out from behind the crate and opened the trapdoor.

"I never knew my dad had loved another woman before my mum," Dan said quietly. He felt a bit embarrassed, having overheard a dialogue like that.

"Maybe he even slept with her?" Norbert guessed.

"No. Definitely not," young Potter shook his head. "My mum was his first..." he turned a bit pink, and was grateful that his expression couldn't be seen in the dark tunnel. "I... asked him once. Out of mere curiosity... and he told me that mum was his first."

"His first..." Norbert mused, "...and his only as well?"

"Of course! He loves mum and he'd never have..." Dan snapped. The mere assumption made him outraged. He had heard of his father's Durmstrang adventure, but only parts of it. He knew about the goldfish in the lake, he knew about Aberforth and his reindeers, but he never ever heard of Tatyana Fiodrovna because Harry and Ginny agreed to keep it a secret from their children. It was a finished chapter of Harry's life and the best way he could forget it was if he never even mentioned it.

"It's okay, it's okay, calm down!" Norbert held up his hands. "I apologise, it was a stupid question. Harry Potter is a saint, after all... well, almost."

"Just almost," Dan grinned. "A saint wouldn't have conceived two children while still at school. Neither would a saint have let me keep the Marauder's Map. But really... dad would never cheat on mum."

"I believe you," Norbert smiled in a peculiar way. 

"Who is this Cho at all?" Gilda asked.

"No idea," Dan shrugged. "Some tramp whom dad has long forgotten." in thought he added: *At least I hope so.*

*************************************************************************

_veronik:_ you got a bit of the grown-ups :) There'll be a lot of them later, don't worry, this fic isn't solely about the kids.

_Wood's secret lover:_ thank you very much. I was sad about what Moony Lover wrote me, but you made my day by saying that she wasn't right :) She wrote that for chapter 2. I somehow could understand that she didn't find chapter 2 that exciting, but she has no idea how this story will turn out, and now she'll never get to know. I saw the movie for the third time today (this time in English at last!), and I paid attention to that woman you thought to be Rowling. IMHO she only resembled Rowling, but wasn't her.

_Sky_: I'm glad you liked Angel. I also think that horses are wonderful animals. But unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to learn to ride yet.

_Bailey Ballinger_: I thought you had stopped. I'm so glad you didn't! :)

_Lady Schezar_: yes, ex-friends.

_jennaration_: I was having fun too, when imagining the tomatoes being angry :) There'll be lots of Albus' mischievous side in this fic, I promise. And Aberforth will be just as stupid as always :)

_makulit:_ yes, Kevin is a little bit like Ron, but he's even more vindictive, as you'll see.

_Lana Riddle_: you're another Slytherin fan? Great!

_Alexander Phoenix_: perhaps you have the Sight :) I'll try and read your fics as soon as possible, but I cannot promise anything, given that I'm having exams nowadays and for the next one month. But I'll really try. I've already read and reviewed a short one.

_Rab_: go, tomatoes! :))) Thanks for the link. Peeves looks funny, pity that he got left out of the movie.

_Lainy_: glad that you liked the movie. Wasn't Lockhart adorable?

_Aimee:_ LOL, everyone seems to love the swearing tomatoes! Angel will appear again, of course. Well, Dan did get the map back :)

_SparkleCharm:_ I got pretty confused when you mentioned that song on gryffindortower.net. I have nothing to do with it. I just sent some arts to the Portrait Gallery there. And actually I sent the first two chapters of TGSoHH there too. I don't know for sure whether Lockhart got into a lunatic asylum, but it seems so that he did. In the scene after the credits he was shown on a poster in a Diagon Alley shop-window. The poster had the following text on it: WHO AM I?, and Lockhart's moving picture was under it, showing him in a straitjacket. 

_SiriDragon_: oh, homework. I hope it wasn't math at least, I hate math.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: yes, Kevin really overreacted. But Ron also has an attitude of overreacting things and it might run in the Weasley family. On the other hand – I need to have Kevin and Dan as enemies in this fic.

_Red Ridding Hood_: I haven't heard of the online tournament, which site is that on? But you're right, I'm not going to have time. As for helping you with finishing your stories – send them to me at the end of January. Then I'll have about two weeks free and I'll see what I can do for you. Btw, thanks for the Spanish May the Force be with you, but for some funny reason I know that it's not Que la Fuerza este contigo, but Que la Fuerza te acompane – that's how it was translated in the Spanish version of the movie. 

_sabby_: another Lockhart fan? Glad to hear :))

_zzxm_: hi, nice to see you again!

_Katrina:_ you're STILL not blaming Kevin and the twins for being so mean?

_X-Tow-Naga_: okay, no pervert, then :)))

_Black Ice:_ I thought that Julie was a nick for Julia. Thanks for telling me, I had no idea it wasn't. From now on she'll be just Julie. I took the Hogwarts test and it sorted me twice into Hufflepuff, once into Gryffindor, once into Slytherin, but I just couldn't get into Ravenclaw!!!

_figgiesblazin_: perhaps… at the end? *evil grin*

_Allie:_ as you wish :)

_Princess Ginny_: I named Lily's stuffed unicorn Angel back in TGSaWCS. Glad you liked the funny mails. Yes, there'll be quite a lot about Lily, in the second half of the story.

_Houou:_ hey, this Willy Wonka sounds fun :)

_Fyremoon_: it didn't sound dumb at all. I found your review very endearing, and I'm glad that you like my fics.

_Amaranta_: thanks! Well, I'm kind of the only girl in the family. Why kind of? Because I have two half-siblings (a brother and a sister), but they live with my dad and his wife. So, to my mum I'm an only child.

_Ice Kitten_: nice try at the German version, but in fact it is the following: "Möge die Macht mit dir sein!" Yes, there'll be a lot of Harry later. There will be chapters mostly about Harry. Ja, Dan und seine Cousin und Kusinen werden miteinander kämpfen. Leider :(

_CandyGurl83_: and now they even less deserve Dan's friendship, don't you think?

_Altec: _I wouldn't subject poor Harry or Ginny to such drastic things as a surgery. What if they want a child later? Then it's out of the question! Of course after Lea's birth they decided to stop conceiving, but when they turn 40 and have no more little kids to care for, then they might get bored and might want a new one, so they just didn't have themselves operated. Snape's not that much of a bastard, don't hurt him, I love him! *now you are looking at me, thinking whether to put me into a strait-jacket like Lockhart in the movie* Yay, you also like Spaceballs? :)

_Missy:_ FANFICTIONALLYtastic? Wow, what a word! :) No, the Potters aren't going to have a cat. But they'll have some new pet, later.

_Toby Haine_: you and flaming? LOL :) I don't think I've ever really flamed anyone. I wrote only constructive criticism.

_C-chan_: the German translator programme must have been not too good. It is Möge die Macht mit dir sein in German. But thanks for trying :)

_K. C. Hunter_: I hope you no more want to smack Gilda :)

_Bamboo Anime_: good luck with your exams! And those pics of Sean got ruined! I'm sorry about them.

_Katie Bell_: was the last chapter torture for you? Then brace yourself for much, much worse things in the future. That German-translator that you and C-chan used was quite silly, though – but thanks a lot for trying :))

_Molto Bella_: thanks for the Italian version!

_goldenstar555:_ I speak English and German (besides my native language, of course).

_Dauphin:_ detest the Weasleys MORE? Don't you like them? I like them in Rowling's books.

_apple-pie_: another tomato-fan? LOL :)

_Nefertiri:_ yes, Angel will be around. Not too often, but she'll appear once in a while. I'm not going to write a sequel, because with this fic the story is quite finished. I might write outtakes with love-scenes (only R, not NC-17), but I'm not sure yet. And yes, probably I'll write a totally new fic. In fact I wrote the first chapter of a new fic about half a year ago, but I stopped it, because I had to concentrate on this one. I might continue that one after my exams (end of January). It's also H/G, of course and PG-13, so nothing to worry about :)

_Inken_: wow, du scheinst die einzige hier sein, die wirklich Deutsch sprechen kann! :))

_2Coolio_: aha. I see. But I didn't want Dan to sound hypocritical. Well, doesn't matter.

_rebkos_: perhaps. But did you really think I'd tell you? ;)

_SheedRicolan_: wow, I never thought that Kevin was like Draco. But you might have a point.

_AmandaPanda_: yes, the Snape scene was reminiscent of the one in the Philosopher's Stone, but in the real book it was McGonagall who took points away, and she took 50 per person, while Snape took 100 per person. Snape is much meaner than McGonagall, you know :)

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: everything will be resolved by the end. You have my word. But before I resolve things, I'm going to confuse them a lot – but that's something you have already got used to when reading my fics, right? :)

_ruffled owl_: *blushes* thanks a lot! Glad you like them.

_Moony Lover_: danke sehr. Obwohl ich dachte, dass du meine neue Story nie mehr ließt. Wie hast du denn gemerkt, dass ich eine Deutschprüfung hatte?

_Joyce_: I loved the movie. It's by far not as good as the book, but still much better than the first movie. And I thought that Branagh wasn't a bad Lockhart at all. Perhaps Hugh Grant would have been even better, dunno. I was satisfied with Branagh.

_Lupin's Angel_: congrats on your wonderful Latin results! :) I wish my German exam had been that good. But I hope I still passed.

_Zenon Lee_: no, concerning the greatest enemy you're on the wrong track. Sorry if you don't like the sex-references, but they'll keep appearing, since the kids are teenagers, and thinking/fantasising about sex is a part of their being teenagers (like you have seen in this chapter). However, I don't think I should change the rating to R. R-rated fics include sex-descriptions, while I'm carefully avoiding those. I refer to the fact that people actually had sex, but never go into details, and it will remain that way. So, PG-13 is the proper rating for my fics. You said you'd like to see how Dan would handle the greatest enemy. But have I ever said that _Dan_ would have to handle the enemy? No, I haven't. Snape has always been biased, but the reason why he didn't punish Norbert was that Norbert hadn't done anything wrong this time. It was obviously Daniel who had nicked the map, and not Norbert. So, why would Snape have to punish him? I don't think Harry would die. If Rowling dared kill him off, she'd lose the love of millions of fans. Fans would turn on her, hate her and Rowling wouldn't want that. No one in their right mind would want that. The once so popular Harry Potter would find himself in second-hand bookshops and the fans wouldn't want to re-read book 7 for a dozen times like they did with the other books. I for one am sure that I wouldn't re-read a book in which Harry dies. And I'd definitely hate Rowling if she killed our dear boy wizard. Now she's my favourite author, but she'd all of a sudden become my most hated author if she did that. And I'm absolutely sure that I'm not the only one who feels like this. So Harry _must_ survive. Perhaps Albus and Snape would die fighting Voldemort, but Harry_ will live_.  (Phew, that was long! Sorry!)

_Kamatazi Yumi_: I have seen at least three film-versions of The Count of Monte Cristo and all of them sucked. They were much worse book-adaptations than the Potter movies. You should read the Monte Cristo book, it's so much better than any of the movies made out of it!

_mazipoto_: thanks. I hope you'll do well at your exams. I'm going to have loads of it in January :(

_ShadowChild:_ thank you, glad you liked it.

_Myr Halcyon_: I'm glad you're back. Yes, Norbert does have a lot of potential. What is a voice recital? Well, whatever it is, I'm glad you did well at it.

_star queen_: I'm glad you liked Albus being mischievous.

_FireBolt900_: Diablo 2? Never heard of it. Is that a movie, or a book, or a computer game? I have really never heard of it, so you can believe me when I tell you that I DIDN'T take Devilsmoor from there.

_LilGinny_: yes, of course we have Christmas trees in Hungary. But lights on houses isn't that common here. There are some of those little lamps on houses on some huge downtown roads, but it hasn't become popular yet. I hope it will someday, because it looks so cool. Every time I watch Home Alone (and I've seen it at least 10 times), I envy the Americans for having all those fancy lights on their houses. Is your sister feeling better? I hope so.

_Areda Helline_: Snape's face looks a bit pudgy in movie two, IMHO. Yes, I knew that Richard Harris died. May he rest in peace. I've heard some funny news though: that in movie three there will be a CGI Dumbledore. I think that's ridiculous. I don't really care who plays Albus, as long as it's a normal, living, breathing person. About the Ron/Hermione relationship: I think that Rowling might have told Chris Columbus about the future of the characters, so that he knew that Ron and Herm would get together. For example Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) said that Rowling had told him everything about Hagrid's future, so she might as well have told the director about the future events. And as far as I know, Coltrane signed up for playing in five movies – that makes me think that Hagrid will die in book five. Sorry, but I'm NOT saying that the Ron/Hermione shippers are wrong. I pretty much believe that they are right. At least I hope so.

_WolfEyes:_ Angel will be around. Not exactly important, but she'll appear once in a while. I hope you didn't catch a cold when falling into the lake! I also love skating.

_aerdna: _I cannot promise anything, but I guess you won't be too disappointed with Daniel :) Correction: Star Wars is the SECOND best. Harry Potter is THE best :)))))

_pudadinging:_ how old is that friend of yours who is reading my fics now? (the no-romance, no H/G reader?) Just wondering… it always makes me happy to know that boys also read my stories. 

_Autumn Dreams_: yes, that was really mean of me :) But I'm glad you still liked it.

_Isis The Goddess of Life_: is this your penname as well? Because then I'll try and read your fic as soon as possible.

_Any last requests_: glad you liked reliving Harry's experiences. 

_Vanilla_: I'm glad that you liked my arts. My personal favourite it the Yule ball :)


	9. I believe I can fly

A/N: hi everyone! I hope you had a very pleasant Christmas. Mine was quite okay. This year mum and I decided to decorate our tree with the Hungarian national colours – so there was no other colour on it but red, white and green. (These colours symbolise power, faith and hope). I think it looked really nice. What was your Christmas tree like? (A friend called Cherie told me that her family had HP ornaments on it, LOL). 

Announcement: TGSoHH has gone international! What do I mean by that? Well… if you speak/study French, and feel like reading it in French, you can do so, here on ffnet. A bilingual Canadian girl asked my permission to translate it and upload it onto ffnet. You can find it (the first chapter so far) under the penname Sabrinette. Shame that I don't speak French and cannot read it ;)

And finally, LET ME WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chapter 9 

**I believe I can fly **

After their little trip to Honeydukes, the trio managed to get out of the tunnel unnoticed. Norbert - although having eaten a heap of sweets in the tunnel - complained to be very hungry. It was dinner time, after all.

On their way down to the Great Hall, they met a madly grinning David Dursley.

"Quite in a good mood, aren't we?" Dan asked.

"Sure... I've just had sex ed," Dave chuckled.

"Oh..." Dan smirked. His father had once told him about that terrible sex education class in his seventh year. Sex education was a subject introduced by Dumbledore after 'the greatest scandal in Hogwarts history', to prevent more students from getting pregnant. Ever since 1999, all kids from third year and up had to attend a class like that. 

"But it wasn't taught by Snape, was it?" Dan asked, having heard how horrible a sex ed teacher Severus could be.

"No..." David shook his curly blonde head. "I don't think he even _knows _what sex is…" he added with a wink. "It was taught by Professor Lockhart."

Dave, not knowing Gilda (who was standing next to Dan and Norbert) didn't understand why the girl burst into a fit of giggles.

"Too bad we aren't having sex ed until third year," Norbert sighed.

Dan - on the other hand - felt relieved by it... dipping into his sister's book and Kama Sutra was enough of sex education for him - enough to deter him from even _thinking of sex. Surely boys of his age were always very interested in this topic, but their interest mainly consisted of spying on girls in the bathroom. Daniel hadn't even done that - although he would have had plenty of opportunity to catch a glimpse of Lily -, because he knew that there was nothing to watch on her. She had no breasts at all. Daniel just couldn't understand what David saw in her..._

"I can well imagine a sex ed class held by professor Lockhart," Norbert said.

"No, you can't," David shook his head with a broad grin. "It is beyond imagination. It was the funniest experience of my life... that fool Lockhart started the whole thing with the birds and the bees - especially the male birds that always need to look cool to seduce the females..." he gave a hearty laugh. "Lockhart himself looks like a flashy tropical bird, doesn't he? I bet he caught himself a wife when wearing a pink-orange striped robe with turquoise buttons."

"No, he did not," Gilda spoke up, looking a bit miffed. "His wife did not go for his looks, she actually fell in love with him because he always made her laugh."

"With his attires, no wonder," David waved. "By the way, how do you know this?"

"Because she told me," Gilda made a sullen face. 

"Told you?"

"Yeah. She's my mother, after all," the girl said, turned on her heels and left.

"Her... her mother?" young Dursley blinked.

"Aha. If you had stopped devouring my sister with your eyes, then you could have paid better attention to the Sorting and you'd know that she's Lockhart's daughter," Dan replied.

"Damn," David grimaced. 

They entered the Great Hall and parted - Dan and Norbert to Slytherin table, David to the table of Hufflepuff.

"At least Dave doesn't seem to be mad at me because of the lost points," Dan said. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were still supposed to be rooting _against Slytherin, but David's friendship seemed to be stronger than his supposed hate for Slytherin._

As the two friends seated themselves at their table next to Gilda, Daniel was dumbfounded to see tears in her eyes. She diverted her stare, but he reached out to tap her arm gently.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

She shook her head, wiping her tears away. It was startling to see this tough girl like this.

"Did David hurt your feelings?" young Potter asked. "I'm sure he did not mean to. He had no idea who you were."

"No, he didn't hurt me," Gilda whispered. "He just... oh, it's so difficult for me, Daniel... dad is making things so difficult! Your pudgy friend was right - father is really like that: a flashy bird with colourful feathers... a bird that does not care for anything else but his looks."

"He is neglecting you," the boy perceived.

"Neglecting, avoiding, despising," she hung her head.

Daniel didn't know what to reply: his father was so different. Harry was caring, loving... someone who would have loved his children even if they had disappointed him in certain respect... Harry had loved Daniel and cared for him when he had been a squib. Having a squib for a child was much worse for a wizard than having a daughter who didn't resemble one at all - still, Harry always loved Dan, while Gilderoy seemed not to love his daughter. 

Just the previous day Daniel had found this girl annoying, but now he couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.

He thought to himself that Hermione had been right: he was darn lucky to have a father like Harry.

"I'm dying of hunger!" Norbert whined. "The house-elves are late. Dinner should have been sent up here five minutes ago!" he looked at his watch. "No, six minutes ago. What are they waiting for?"

"Look at the door and you'll have your answer," Lavinia Flint replied.

The boys glanced at the door of the Great Hall, to see Dumbledore arrive with a pudgy little man in grey-white striped suit and a lime green bowler hat.

"That's Fudge, isn't it?" Norbert whispered to Dan.

"Who?" Gilda blinked.

"Minister for Magic," Dan said. "Where have you been living that you don't know him?"

"Everywhere but England," she replied. "My parents and I have been travelling all around the globe ever since I was born. Father was opening beauty salons in every city you can imagine. The very first time I set foot on British soil was a week ago. So no wonder that I don't know this Budge."

"Fudge."

"Whatever," she shrugged. "He doesn't look too sympathetic to me."

"Neither to me, but we must accept him... at least that's what dad said," Daniel replied. "My parents didn't vote for him at the latest elections, though. They voted for Jonathan Johnson - my uncle Fred's father-in-law."

"My parents didn't even vote," Norbert added, massaging his rumbling stomach. "Father said that none of the candidates deserved his vote."

All children in the Great Hall fell silent as the headmaster raised his hand.

"Before we dine tonight, let us welcome Mr. Fudge, Minister for Magic!" the students clapped politely. "He has come to us to make an announcement. As I have already referred to it last Thursday at the opening-of-the-school-year-feast, the Hogwarts foundation document has been found and our school has turned out to be exactly one thousand years old this year. Now the Minister is going to give you the details of the festivities. I am only going to complete his speech. Mr. Fudge, please, fill us in."

"Well..." Cornelius straightened himself and adjusted his bow tie. "There will be two big events taking place during the school year. Since the foundation stone was laid at Halloween of 1011, we are going to have a big Halloween ball here at the school. It is going to be a masquerade, right, Dumbledore?"

"Exactly, Minister," Albus nodded. "Every student _and teacher is obliged to appear at the ball in some kind of a costume. The teachers are going to reward the student wearing the best costume with a hundred points to the student's house. The student wearing the second best costume is going to get forty points to his or her house, and the third one is going to get twenty points. The winning students, on the other hand, are going to select the best costume from among the teachers, who have to wear funny outfits... as funny as possible. And of course the teacher wearing the funniest costume will also get some kind of a prize," he shot the children an impish look._

"I wonder what costume Snape will be wearing," Dan whispered to Norbert who started to snigger.

"All students and teachers," the headmaster continued, "are allowed to invite two more persons to the ball - there are only three restrictions: the invited people may not wear costumes, they have to be at least eleven years old and they need to have knowledge of the wizarding world beforehand. We would like to avoid unknowing Muggles freaking out on us. Our Muggle-born students may invite their parents or siblings, but I do not recommend any of you to bring Muggles, who have never heard of magic, to the ball. Since there will be about 3000 of us here at the party, there will be a huge tent set up on the school grounds, given that the Great Hall will not be big enough. So," Albus looked around to see kids putting their heads together - already discussing their costumes and the list of people to invite - finished his speech: "I believe this is going to be the greatest party this old school has ever seen. I suggest you start preparing for it and think of a good idea for a costume. And now, I'm giving the word back to Mr. Fudge."

"Um, thank you, Dumbledore," the Minister said. "So... although the foundation stone of Hogwarts was laid at Halloween of 1011, the school only got ready by the beginning of May, 1012. Along with the Hogwarts foundation document, Salazar Slytherin's diary has also been found and it tells us about a special wizard-knight tournament, at which Helga Hufflepuff came up with the idea of founding a school of witchcraft and wizardry. In order to remember this special day, we are going to have a similar tournament here at Hogwarts. And you," he pointed at the students sitting at the four tables, "are going to be the knights."

A loud murmur ran down the hall, and Albus Dumbledore held up his hands to silence the excited kids.

"Let me tell you a bit more about this tournament. First of all: it is going to last for seven days – a whole week without schoolwork," all students cheered. Dumbledore smiled. "I knew you'd appreciate the news. So, this tournament is not going to be like the Triwizard Tournament many of you witnessed here two years ago. This is going to be a championship in which all of you may take part - from first year to seventh year. We got to know from Slytherin's diary that the wizard-knight tournament resembled a bit the Muggle tournaments, with the exception that wizards used brooms instead of horses and wands instead of lances and swords. At the original wizard-knight tournament there was one victorious champion and one Queen of Beauty and Love. At the tournament Slytherin's diary tells us about, the Queen happened to be Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, and her task was to crown the winner with a wreath of golden laurels. The winner was Godric Gryffindor. The whole tournament was held at Slytherin Manor and it was right after the champion's crowning that Helga Hufflepuff suggested to build Hogwarts. With this tournament, we are going to remember, revive the habits of old times, customs long forgotten. I'm sure this is going to be even more fun than the Halloween ball."

"But professor!" a fifth year Ravenclaw boy put up his hand. "You said every student was allowed to enter the tournament from first year to seventh year. How is this possible? Seventh year students know much more than the firsties!"

"True," Dumbledore nodded. "I just wanted to explain this. First of all, what you need to know is following: all boys may go for the title of the champions - yes, there will be seven champions, one from each year. With this I have already answered your question: all boys are going to battle with other boys who have had the same amount of magical education, thus no one will have advantage over the others."

"And what about the girls???" a Gryffindor girl expressed her indignation.

"Oh, do not worry, Ms. Ollivander," the headmaster smiled. "Remember what I said about the original wizard-knight tournament: there was one champion and one Queen of Beauty and Love. At Hogwarts there will be seven champions and seven queens - one from each year."

"Are the girls also going to battle?" Lily Potter's best friend, Circe Diggory, put up her hand.

"In a way, yes," Dumbledore nodded. "But their 'battle' is going to be different from that of the boys. Since the original queen was Rowena Ravenclaw, and she was famous for her cleverness, the girls are going to compete for the title of 'Queen' in a way that is worthy of Lady Ravenclaw: we are going to test their intellectual abilities."

"A quiz show?" a Muggle born girl squealed.

"Something like that, yes," the headmaster nodded. 

"This is really going to be fun, eh?" Lavinia Flint leant to Gilda. "Are you going for the title 'Queen of Beauty and Love'? I'll surely go for it."

"Then go," Gilda shrugged. "I'm not going to make a fool of myself, that's for sure."

"I hope Liu is going to be the Queen in our year," Dan said, his eyes fixed on the Ravenclaw girl, who was whispering something to her neighbour, Yvette Weasley.

"Are you going for 'Champion', Dan?" Norbert asked.

"How could I? I can't even perform the simplest charms! I'd only become a laughing stock."

"I could help you, you know..." Norbert replied with a sly smile. "With a bit of training you could learn everything. You have already proved that."

Dan waved indignantly. "I might learn the basic things, but that would never be enough for the tournament."

"Defeatist, that's what you are," young Malfoy snapped.

"Realist, that's what I am," Dan replied. "But I could still win the hundred points for the best costume."

"Any ideas for it?"

"None yet. I'll keep thinking."

Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore waved again and silenced the students. "There's only one more thing I'd like to tell you," he began. "Naturally these festivities make it necessary to re-organise the order of Quidditch matches. There will be two matches - Gryffindor versus Slytherin and Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff - in October, and the remaining matches will be held in March and April. Professor Longbottom asked me to tell you that Quidditch tryouts will start tomorrow. Students willing to join the house teams, please sign up with Professor Longbottom this evening or tomorrow morning. Thank you."

"I wonder where Professor Longbottom is," Gilda said as the dinner appeared on their golden plates.

"Dunno," Norbert replied with full mouth. "Maybe repairing a broomstick."

But Neville turned out to be wandering in the castle instead of repairing broomsticks. Daniel and his two friends met him on their way down into the Slytherin common room. The professor seemed to be desperate about something.

"Haven't you... haven't you seen Severus?" he asked. "I keep losing him."

"What are you looking for, Longbottom?" Snape's voice spoke up from behind Neville. "Er... _professor Longbottom."_

"He's been looking for you," Gilda replied willingly.

"Me?"

"No," Neville turned ruby red. "My toad."

* * * * *

The following morning at breakfast you could barely hear the students talk about anything else but the ball and the tournament, costume-ideas, friends and relatives they'd invite and the title 'Champion' and 'Queen of Beauty and Love' they'd go for.

No matter how interesting their very first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was, the Slytherins kept whispering about the upcoming events, not really paying attention to professor Lupin. Only Daniel and Gilda - who weren't a bit interested in the tournament - listened carefully to Remus' explanation on demons (particularly a mad Inca demon he had fought in Peru over the summer). Professor Lupin had not only vindicated, but also captured and brought the creature to Great Britain and now showed it to the children. The Inca demon was the ugliest little thing Daniel had ever seen - it was greyish brown, looking a bit like a heap of mud (or dung) and even smelled like it.

Since the Slytherins had no more classes till lunch, Dan decided to go and get his detention for the day over with. As he approached the caretaker's room, he saw that the door was ajar and voices caught his ears. One of them belonged to Mr. Bradley, the other to Snape. And they were... _laughing???_

Daniel thought he heard it wrong. Snape, being cheery about something? That must be the end of the world! 

The boy sneaked up to the door to eavesdrop a bit.

"I know another!" Mr. Bradley said merrily. "The little boy goes home from school, looking very cheerful. His grandma notices it and asks: 'Have you had a good day, dear? What did you do?' 'A chemistry experiment, granny'. The grandma taps the boy's head proudly and says: 'I hope you will be in just a good mood tomorrow morning when you go to school.' Can you guess what the boy answered?"

Snape scratched his jaw, thinking. "Er... 'what school'?"

"Exactly!" chuckled the caretaker.

"I guess I have heard this joke in the wizard way as well," Snape replied. "Neville Longbottom goes home and his grandma asks the same things, and he replies that bad old Snape made him do a Potions experiment... and bye-bye, Hogwarts!"

Bert Bradley guffawed. "Who made up this joke about you?"

The professor shrugged. "That is something I'll never find out. But I suspect Potter or Weasley... or maybe not - they used to be friends with Longbottom."

"Was Nev... er, I mean, Professor Longbottom really that bad at Potions?"

"Worse than you could possibly imagine. And he was afraid of me... but he seems to have found a way to get back at me. Can you guess what he named his new toad?"

"No idea."

"_Severus," Snape replied, but Daniel was surprised that he didn't hear bitterness or fury in the Potions master's voice - it was rather amused. "Not to mention the case with his boggart..."_

"The Professor Snape-boggart with the looks of an old lady?" the caretaker giggled.

"How do you know about it?"

"Er... just heard it somewhere," Bert sounded a bit embarrassed. "News like this spread, you know..." somehow Dan had the impression that Bradley was hiding something. However, Snape didn't press the topic.

"I can't believe I have finally met someone who shares my interest in Potion-making," Severus said finally. "I've got to go now. Good bye, Mr. Bradley."

Daniel wasn't quick enough: he wanted to get as far away from the door as possible, but Snape opened it so hastily that the boy had no time to 'escape'.

"Potter," Severus gave him a bemused look.

"I just... I've just come for my detention, sir," Dan mumbled.

"Then go, what are you waiting for?" with that the professor left, and Daniel gaped at his receding figure. What had he just witnessed? Snape letting his greasy hair down? Snape _not punishing him for eavesdropping with another month of detention?_

Something was amiss here... seriously amiss. For a second Dan felt sorry for the poor professor who had obviously gone mad.

* * * * *

Since the next class of the Slytherins was Astronomy at eleven p.m., Daniel had a whole afternoon free. After lunch, going downstairs into the dungeon common room, he met his cousins on a landing.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Kevin crossed his arms, leaning nonchalantly to the banister. "Where are you going, Potter?"

"None of your business, Weasley."

"No need to ask," Viviane sneered. "He's surely searching for a teacher to tell on one of his friends."

"Sod off," Dan sighed. "I'm busy."

"Oh, busy?" Valentine scowled. "Busy plotting to betray people, or busy thinking up a costume idea? I could give you advice there."

"Yeah…" Kevin smirked. "You'd look perfect as an Inca demon. We've just seen one at Defence Against the Dark Arts… it reminded me a lot of you. Especially the way it stank."

"Go and make friends with Draco Malfoy. He'd gladly give you _'Potter stinks'_ badges," Dan snapped. "Just don't forget to put them away when you're at Charms or dad might think you're referring to him."

"What about _'Danniekins stinks'_?" Valentine suggested.

"Wonderful idea… if you don't mind me wearing a badge saying _'I hate WC'_." young Potter replied coolly.

"WC?"

"Weasley Children," Dan shrugged. "And if you allow me, I've got to go to plot with Norbert how to get you sacked out of Hogwarts."

"If you try, I'll…" Kevin clenched his fists.

"Do what? Sic your dead unicorn on me?"

* * * * *

Daniel dropped himself into an armchair in the Slytherin common room.

"Hey!" Norbert looked up from his book _'Slytherin versus Gryffindor - Salazar's tips how to do away with filthy guys like Godric'. It was a book only available in Knockturn Alley. "What's the matter, mate?"_

Dan grunted and looked into the flames dancing in the fireplace.

"Oh, I see. Weasley-menace," Norbert closed his book and handed it to his friend. "Read this. It'll help you endure them."

Young Potter read the title and sadly shook his head. "It's not like that, Norbert. I don't want to _do away with them. I'm mad at them, all right, but I... don't want to hurt them."_

"Tut, tut, tut, you are way too generous. Really, you should be in Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff?" Dan snorted. "Are you insulting me?"

"No way. I just wanted to remind you that you're a Slytherin. And Slytherins never feel sympathy for people who hate them. If you do, then you're not a real Slytherin."

"I never thought I was a real Slytherin," Dan hung his head. He couldn't express with words how much he longed to be in Gryffindor, how much he longed to have the Weasleys as his friends. He had six cousins attending Hogwarts and only one of them - David - was willing to talk to him. Yvette was also his cousin, but he had never really talked to her: she was way too girlish for his taste. He didn't understand what Christopher Wood saw in her - even his sister Lily was more interesting than Yvette, who was nothing but a pretty face. Liu, on the other hand... Daniel had to admit that he didn't know much about Liu, besides that she was also pretty. He hoped, though, that at Astronomy that evening he'd have a better chance to get to know her.

* * * * *

"Astronomy is considered as one of the oldest sciences, although - if we think of all the space-telescopes and probes - we can consider it to be the youngest and most modern of all sciences," professor Sinistra Lupin began the class. Daniel squinted at Liu standing not far away from him, hanging on every word of the professor.

"Studying the sky in the ancient times started in Mezopothamia and culminated in Greece. The Greek believed the stars and planets to be mystical celestial lights and thought that the Earth was the centre of the universe. This is the so called geocentric theory... In the time of Newton the stars turned out to be distant suns. However, the fact that our Milky Way is just one of the several galaxies and that the universe was created by the Big Bang, only got revealed in the 20th century, mostly due to the activity of Edwin Hubble," professor Sinistra carried on. "Unfortunately we must admit that about 98% of the astronomic discoveries have been made by Muggles. All witches and wizards did was learn Astronomy from the non-magical folks. So never underestimate Muggles, because there are areas in which they have achieved more than we, magic people."

"Rubbish," Norbert whispered. "Comparing Muggles to us, wizards!"

"You really hate Muggles?" Dan frowned.

"Yeah, it runs in the family," the other boy replied. "As a Slytherin you are also supposed to hate them."

"I actually _know some Muggles who are quite okay. For example my uncle Dudley..."_

"Sssh!" Liu Chang pressed her index-finger to her lips to silence the boys. She didn't want to miss a single word of Sinistra.

"Who can tell me how exactly stars are born?" the professor asked.

Silence.

After a while Liu put up her hand. "They are born from interstellar gas-clouds also called nebulas. These nebulas contract and create proto-stars. When the density and temperature of the gases in these proto-stars reach the required degree, nuclear reactions are induced and a real star is born."

"Exactly, Ms. Chang. I see you have cared to study a bit of Muggle science beforehand. Ten points to Ravenclaw."

"I knew she wasn't just a pretty face!" Dan whispered enthusiastically into Norbert's ear. Gilda snorted irritably, but Dan didn't seem to notice.

"And now, it is time for you to get acquainted with the stars, planets and constellations," Sinistra said. "Who can tell me the difference between stars and planets?"

Liu's hand shot into the air again, but so did Gilda's.

"Ms. Lockhart?"

"Stars have own light and heat, planets don't. So simple."

"Very well, ten points to Slytherin as well."

Gilda shot Daniel a victorious stare, but he wasn't looking at her - he was occupied with ogling Liu again. Gilda turned away, clearly hurt by the fact that the boy didn't care to praise her, too.

"Can any of you - besides Ms. Chang and Ms. Lockhart - name any of the visible constellations or any of the stars?"

Daniel remembered some occasions when the Potter family went camping and slept in the open air. Sirius - true to his name - knew a lot about the starry sky: not only the names of the constellations, but even the myths in connection to them. Daniel and his siblings got to know from him that many of the constellations had been named after Greek mythology characters, such as Hercules, Perseus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Pegasus.

"I'll try," Dan said in a bit uncertain tone.

"Go ahead, then," Stella Sinistra encouraged him.

"Well... that very bright star over there is Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus - that means swan. The other bright one is Vega, in the constellation Lyra."

"Very well, Mr. Potter. Could you name some of the circumpolar constellations?" Sinistra asked.

"The what?" Dan blinked. Sirius had never gone into details this much.

"Constellations that are visible all year, because they are close to the Pole Star," the professor explained.

"Oh, those..." Dan looked up, searching for the Pole Star. It was a beautiful, clear September night, and with no Muggle street lamps around, the view was perfect. The sight of the infinite curtain of black velvet sky that was sprinkled with small diamonds of twinkling stars was simply enthralling. "I guess..." Dan continued, "Ursa Maior... Ursa Minor... Cepheus, Cassiopeia and... um, _Draco," Norbert started to snigger behind his back and Liu gave him an admiring look that made his heart flutter._

Slytherin received another ten points and Daniel sent a silent thanks to Sirius.

In the rest of the lesson, Sinistra showed them some of the planets and their moons, finally letting them glimpse the M31, also known as Andromeda galaxy, through a huge telescope.

When they finally got into bed shortly after one o'clock, Daniel decided that Astronomy was his favourite subject for several reasons. First of all: he proved to know much more about it than the others, secondly: it didn't need much of a talent since it wasn't about 'foolish wandwaving', thirdly: Liu also seemed to like it. 

Daniel put his glasses on his bedside table, pulled the hangings shut around his four-poster and grinned at Abu.

"She likes exactly what I do! We have the same interests, thus we can get close... very close, Abu," he whispered. "I'll just have to continue being good at Astronomy and she'll surely like me."

* * * * *

Next day the Slytherins' first class started only at 11 o'clock, and they were glad to be able to sleep in, since having Astronomy so late at night meant that you'd be very drowsy the following day. Of course, getting up so late meant that you missed breakfast, and it is common knowledge that kids in their early teens need a lot of nourishment, so Daniel decided to take Norbert down into the kitchen to satiate their hunger.

Norbert had never been in the kitchen before, but he must have been used to having dozens of house-elves being at his disposal, because he didn't seem surprised or pleased by the incessant bowing and curtsying of the Hogwarts elves. Now that SPEW had become a national - or rather international - movement, all Hogwarts elves were freed and paid. Instead of tea towels they wore identical, pretty uniforms - the males blue and the females pink. Some females were even wearing jewellery - mainly earrings that looked ludicrous in their bat-like ears, and Daniel almost choked on his chocolate mousse when he spotted a male elf with a nose-ring. It seemed that the elves had no problem getting used to their freedom, but it didn't matter as long as they worked diligently. And so they did.

After having been delivered a plate of pumpkin pasties, the two boys sat down at a table to watch the elves prepare lunch. That was when Dan noticed that some of them were even sporting SPEW badges and there was a huge poster of the rock band 'SPEW' on the wall. The elves must have been great fans - no wonder, because WWN kept playing SPEW melodies hours on end and the elves were allowed to listen to the wizard radio while working. There were rumours that some elves were planning to start a very new radio, solely for elves.

"They have got totally out of hand, I tell you," Norbert whispered to Dan, eyeing a male elf that was wearing headphones and listening to his very own Wizard Walkman. "They have got too much liberty. No elf in Malfoy or Devilsmoor Manor would dare to run around with a walkman. Today they are satisfied with this, but tomorrow they will be purchasing laptops and sending e-owls. Ridiculous."

"Don't be too hard on them," Dan replied, munching a pumpkin pasty. "They deserve their freedom after millennia of slavery."

"If you say so," Norbert shrugged.

A house-elf walked up to them with a new plate of pasties and bowed. Daniel immediately recognised him.

"Dobby!"

"Daniel Potter, sir!" the elf beamed. "You still remember Dobby? Oh, such an honour!"

"Of course I do. You used to visit dad sometimes. Really... why haven't you come for such a long time? We haven't seen you for years!"

"Well, sir..." the elf turned pink, as much as a brownish face like his could turn pink. "The reason is that... Dobby... Dobby fell in love in Harry Potter's house."

"Fell in love? At Black Manor?" Dan gaped. "Oh... you love our Dinky, don't you?"

"Er, yes, sir," the elf nodded.

"Then... why are you avoiding our house? Don't you want to see the girl of your dreams?"

"Oh, of course Dobby would like to see Dinky, sir, but Dobby isn't allowed... till the beginning of this November."

"November? Why?"

"This is elf-custom, sir. If two elves fall in love and they admit it to one another, then they must spend exactly a thousand days apart, to test the strength of their love. They are allowed to write letters to each other, but cannot meet until the thousand days are over. If they meet after a thousand days and they still love each other, then they can start... er, dating."

"And how long are they supposed to date before having sex? Two thousand days, maybe?" Norbert mocked.

"No, sir, just five hundred days," Dobby replied.

"Oh, my, this sucks. If Aunt Hermione knew this, she'd start the elven sexual revolution," Dan shook his head. "How can you bear this, Dobby? To be away from your love so long? To... restrain yourself so long?

"Dobby does not know sir, but Dobby loves Dinky and is willing to wait for her. Dobby has waited 956 days, only 44 days to go and Dobby can meet his love again."

"You know what, Dobby?" Dan said, stuffing another pasty into his mouth. "My family is going to move to Hogsmeade soon, because my mum is going to buy Honeydukes. You'll be able to see Dinky on a daily basis."

The elf clasped his hands gleefully. "Wonderful! Dobby is so happy, sir!"

"If I were you, I wouldn't eat so many of those or you'll get sick at Flying," Norbert interjected.

"Flying?" Daniel made a sour face and put his half-eaten pasty down. "I have forgotten."

"You don't seem too happy about it," his friend perceived.

"'Course I'm not," Dan sighed.

"Sir is not loving flying?" Dobby's eyes widened. "How is it possible? Sir is Harry Potter's son and Harry Potter is the best flier Dobby has ever known!"

"Don't remind me," young Potter hung his head. "My dad was disappointed enough when I fell off my broom at the age of six, broke my leg and told him that I hated flying. I know it was just a little accident, I mean, my leg got repaired at St. Mungo's in a second, but I was under shock and from that day on I was afraid of flying. I haven't ridden a broomstick since then... and the thought that I'll _have to fly again gives me the creeps."_

"You never told me about this," Norbert knitted his eyebrows. 

"Because I didn't want to talk about it... didn't even want to think about it," Dan pushed his plate away, disgusted. "Thanks for the breakfast, Dobby."

"You is welcome, sir."

* * * * *

The two boys trotted down to the Flying grounds without saying a word. Daniel was too unhappy about the upcoming lesson and Norbert had no idea how to console someone who hated flying but would be forced to fly in a couple of minutes. It would have been like persuading a burnt child not to dread the fire.

As they walked down the steps leading from the Entrance Hall into the park, they met the four Weasley cousins coming exactly from the Flying grounds. They must have had a first lesson with Professor Longbottom. Lancelot still looked pale - he, like his father - had never been good at physical activities, but his intellectual abilities made up for that (too much, in the twins' opinion).

"Oh, Dannikins is going to have his first Flying lesson!" Kevin shouted. "Tell Professor Longbottom that you are afraid, he might let you stay on the ground!"

"Or pretend to be ill and get a medical certification from Madame Pomfrey that you aren't allowed to fly!" Valentine advised.

"Yeah, even Lance is a better flier than you!" Viv added. "He only fell off his broom after three minutes. How long did _you manage to stay on it last time?"_

"Twenty seconds," Kevin grinned.

To Norbert's surprise, Daniel didn't even react, just walked past his cousins.

"I would have cursed them if I were you!" Norbert told his friend. "Okay, you don't know curses yet... then at least you should have broken Kevin's nose."

Dan shook his head. "No. He's right. He's... he's right. I won't be able to remain on my broomstick for a minute! I'm really scared. I'll fall off right away."

"Defeatist, again. Have you no self-confidence at all?"

"Not much. Why should I have? What should I feel confident about? My magic skills? They are as good as zero. A wonder that I got into this school at all. My flying abilities? They are definitely zero. All I have inherited from dad is my looks, nothing else. But my looks won't make me a great wizard or a talented Quidditch player..."

Soon they arrived at the Flying grounds, but Professor Longbottom was nowhere to be seen. The other students were gathering around a pile of broomsticks.

Since the Slytherins had this class together with the Ravenclaws, Daniel spotted Liu Chang at once. Normally his mood would have improved in the girl's presence, but this time it only worsened - Dan already saw it in his mind's eye as he made a fool of himself in front of her.

"Hey, what is this expression?" Gilda asked him. "Even Snape used to look happier than you do now."

"Where's Professor Longbottom?" Dan asked instead of replying.

"Mr. Bradley has just been here and said that the professor got an urgent owl that his daughter had fallen ill, but he might be back before the end of the lesson, so we should wait for him and choose ourselves a broomstick."

"Great," Norbert grunted. "We might as well have stayed in the kitchen. The elves were making éclairs and I could have done with a few of them."

"Always thinking with your stomach," Gilda tutted.

Suddenly a little blonde girl came running towards them, weeping.

"Julie? What's the matter?" Daniel asked.

"Snow... Snowball is stuck on a tree and I can't get her down!" Julie Dumbledore sniffed, wiping her tears.

"Snowball?"

"My kitty!" the little girl pointed at a tall tree about a hundred feet away. A small white dot was sitting on one of its higher branches, mewing in a terrified sort of way.

"Where's your great-grandpa?" Gilda asked. "He could surely magic your kitty down."

"He's gone into Diagon Alley to buy unicorn-fodder," Julie replied and burst into tears again.

"Can't we magic it down?" Daniel pondered.

"Well... we haven't learned the levitating charm yet," Norbert shrugged.

"Then I'll get her down!" Gilda said resolutely.

"We aren't allowed to fly as long as the teacher is away!" Liu admonished.

"Who said I wanted to fly?" Ms. Lockhart snapped. She clearly didn't like Ms. Chang. "I'm going to climb."

"Climb? Are you out of your mind?" Daniel yelled. "It's way too high!"

"Daniel... I have spent all my summers in Egypt with my grandpa and climbed all the palm trees. Palms do not have branches and I still managed to climb them. This one here is a piece of cake."

"But..."

"No buts, I'm going to save that kitty. I love cats. All Egyptians love cats - they have always been considered holy animals in Egypt."

"I always told you the chick was crazy," Norbert told Dan as they followed the girl's receding figure with their eyes.

"...and for once I agree," Dan nodded.

All Slytherins and Ravenclaws watched as Gilda Lockhart deftly climbed the trunk of the tree, hopping from branch to branch like a monkey. Not even Abu could have done it better.

Snowball, the little white kitten, was perched on a branch at least thirty feet above the ground. Gilda stepped on the same branch, crouched down and started crawling towards the cat.

There was a crack.

"She's going to fall!" one of the Ravenclaws screamed. The branch started to sway madly under the weight of the girl, but it didn't break yet.

Everyone watched with bated breaths as Gilda caught Snowball by its tail and stuffed the tiny animal into her robe pocket. As she started to crawl backwards on the branch, it cracked again - this time much louder, and began separating itself from the trunk. Gilda yelped and grabbed a twig as the branch got into a vertical position, as if hanging on mere hinges. It was only a matter of seconds and it would fall down, causing Ms. Lockhart to break her neck. 

Gilda held onto the twig as tightly as she could, her legs dangling above the abyss she was going to fall into... and finally the twig gave.

She screamed, closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, but all she felt was a gentle bump and the wind blowing into her face as she soared upwards... _not downwards._

She heard people yelling, clapping and whistling, and felt two arms circled around her body while she felt slowly descending. Only when her feet touched the ground, did she open her eyes to see a pair of chocolate brown eyes glinting at her from behind spectacles.

"Daniel..." she whispered, disentangling herself from his embrace, dismounting the broomstick the boy had saved her with.

"Daniel!" Norbert arrived with a wide-eyed Liu and a tear-soaked Julie. "Daniel, you did it!"

"Did I?" Dan blinked. "Oh, well, I must have... I must have acted on instinct, I guess," he dropped the broom as if disgusted. "I still hate flying."

"Oh, Daniel, I barely could believe my eyes!" Liu said enthusiastically. "In one second Gilda was still cliff-hanging, I mean, tree-hanging, in the next one you were swooping towards her like an arrow... WOW!"

Daniel blushed at Liu's appraisal, but blushed even more as Gilda grabbed his head and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. "History repeated itself, Dan!" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Your dad saved my mum's life back in Egypt, when her carpet went berserk and wanted to drop her off... and now you saved me. Thanks."

"Any time... I just hope I won't need to use a broomstick next time," Dan grinned.

"Here," Gilda reached into her pocket and fished the kitty out. Julie Dumbledore took it gratefully.

"Brilliant flying, young Potter," came a voice from behind.

The children turned around to see Neville.

"Er... how's your daughter?" Dan asked, hoping to deter the professor from taking fifty points off Slytherin because of his forbidden flight.

"Very well, thanks," Neville smiled. "My wife got shocked when she saw rashes on Eve's skin and called for me and Madame Pomfrey at once, but Eve turned out to be all right, she's just allergic to Mrs. Figg's cats," now he gave Daniel a penetrating stare. "Really nice flying, Potter."

"Er... professor, I know I shouldn't have flown as long as you weren't around, but..."

"...but it was an emergency," Neville nodded, smiling. "I wouldn't have been able to save Ms. Lockhart, I was too far away when the branch broke. You did the right thing," he turned to Gilda. "I should take at least ten points from Slytherin because of your irresponsibility, young lady, but I should give Slytherin at least ten points for Mr Potter's heroism. That would mean zero points, so let's dispense with it now. Potter... you haven't come to me yet to sign up for the Quidditch trials."

"Because I did not want to," Daniel replied. "I don't like flying, sir."

"What? So good at it and not loving it?" the professor looked surprised. "Your father was a great Seeker... you could also be a good one, and as far as I know, Slytherin is needing a Seeker, two Beaters and a Chaser for the time being. All of them graduated last year."

"I'd like to sign up, professor," Norbert put up his hand.

"Me, too," Liu shouted. "There are vacant positions on the Ravenclaw team too, right, professor?"

"Everyone can sign up for the trials, after class. First I have to see your flying skills and decide whether you are good enough for joining your house teams," professor Longbottom gave Daniel a meaningful look.

"Please, don't be mad at me, sir, but I'm not playing Quidditch," the boy said resolutely.

Neville shrugged. "I see, young Potter. I understand that you don't want to play against your cousins."

"Cousins?" Daniel looked up, as if struck by a lightning.

"Yes," Professor Longbottom nodded. "The Gryffindor team is having the same problems as Slytherin: three of its players graduated and they are in need of a Seeker and two Beaters. Mr Kevin Weasley is likely to get the position of Seeker and the two Ms. Weasleys are going to be Beaters."

"Beaters? Girls?" a Ravenclaw boy yelled. "The Beaters are always boys!"

"Times change, Mr. Nash," Neville replied. "And sometimes even girls can be tough enough to play Beaters. The two Ms. Weasleys are definitely tough enough."

"Then I'm also going for the position of Beater." Gilda declared.

Daniel and Norbert exchanged a grin. Knowing Gilda's straight lefts and rights, woe betide anyone she'd send a Bludger towards!

From the corner of his eye, Daniel saw three red-heads leaning out of a window, clearly interested in the Flying lesson.

"Your cousins?" young Malfoy asked. "They must have longed to see you fall off your broom - they must be very disappointed now."

"And how disappointed they will be!" Daniel's mouth tucked into a diabolic grin - a grin such as Norbert had never seen him wearing - a grin full of vindictiveness. "I'm going for Seeker... and Gryffindor beware!"

**A/N:** unfortunately I couldn't find a better way to make Daniel play Quidditch, so I had to make him save Gilda. I know it's very much like Harry saving the Remembrall, but I really had no better idea. 

The idea of Snowball the kitty comes from the movie Roxanne. Have you seen it?

We all know from Hermione that Muggle devices do not work at Hogwarts, but let's assume that wizards have produced some gadgets since GoF that actually function there. Technique is developing very quickly, isn't it?

Sorry 'bout the long and boring Astronomy class, but I'm very obsessed with Astronomy, and since Rowling so shamelessly neglected telling us anything about these classes, I couldn't resist the temptation to write about one. And trust me, it'll come in handy for Dan that he's so good at Astronomy. 

_PrincezzShortie,_ _starheart20 _and_ Toby Haine_: you got mails and I guess I answered your questions/reviews in those :)

_seashell:_ you think Dan's a bad boy? LOL.

_Red Ridding Hood_: the word is accompany, not acompanny :) I hope I did well at my exam, but I won't find out till the middle of January. I'm sorry about your friend leaving… About Dan talking back to Harry I can only reply with something I've learned during this semester at the college in the subject called Intercultural Communications: in 'large power distance cultures' (like the Middle- and South-Americans, Asians, and even the central- and eastern Europeans) parents teach children obedience, while in 'small power distance cultures' (e.g. the Anglo-Saxons) parents treat their kids as equals, so kids do talk back more often. So, for you, who come from a large power distance culture, it's strange to see a kid who comes from a small power distance culture taking back to his dad. But it's like that, really.

_Eclectus_: I'm glad that your finger is doing better :)

_Indigo Ziona_: glad you like Gilda, my beta liked her very much, too. Norbert rulez? LOL :) No, there won't be any Norbert/Gilda, that would be too much like Ron/Hermione. I'm planning something else. Yeah, I totally understand that you'll never be able to read that part of GoF without laughing anymore. Aberforth and his goat ;) I hope you'll continue your brilliant fic soon. I definitely need more of it!

_Sean Mulligan_: I feel ashamed, but I have to admit that I haven't read anything of the Slyhterin Rising stories for a long, long time. I read about three chapters of the first one, then… dunno. I didn't have time, I guess, those fics are all so long. About Gilderoy's house: you're right, he's naïve a bit, but just think of him bragging with other people's deeds as though he had done them, and obliviating those wizards/witches… that's cunning and that's like Slytherin.

_Sky_: more of Angel later :)

_K. C. Hunter_: I'm sure that you'll grow to like Gilda.

_Tenshi:_ no, Dan doesn't know yet that Cho is Liu's mum. He'll get to know in the next chapter.

_Molto Bella_: more of Myrtle soon. I love that character very much, so there'll be quite a bit of her in this fic, and she'll be just as annoying as always :)

_sabby_: don't worry, the cousins won't make up for quite a while. Glad you like my arts at GTnet, new ones are coming in January :)

_ruffled owl_: Ginny got pregnant with Lily because she used the Anti-Conceptus charm days too late. So, that had nothing to do with being Parseltongue – she became Parseltongue months later. But Dan was conceived AFTER the Green Flame torch event, so Ginny was already a Parseltongue when Dan came along.

_Amaranta_: Harry is indeed strong, but Cho isn't lying. She does love him. But I still hate her :))) How can I draw and write so well? LOL, quite many people asked me the same, but I have no answer. I guess I inherited both skills from my mum, but I have both of them in a larger amount than she does. Lucky me :) There'll be a bit of Ron in the next chapter, but sorry, he won't be really important in this story. I just couldn't concentrate on all the characters at once and had to neglect some, and poor Ron is one of those neglected. Don't be mad at me, please!

_goldenstar555_: thanks.

_rinoa:_ Ron and Hermione aren't the type of parents to spank their kids :)

_Altec:_ there's a charm (mentioned in TGSaWCS) called Profero Graviditas, that can reveal pregnancy hours after conception. Ginny must have used that one again. (In chapter 22 of TGSaWCS Hermione used this charm to find out whether she was pregnant, and she used it for Ginny as well in chapter 36, only to find out that Gin had conceived triplets the night before.) I had some classmates in the primary school who were only 11 and had quite big breasts, so Liu could also have them. This fic will only be about Dan's first year, and no, I'm not going to write more about Dan's school-years. This story will not have sequels, but I might write some outtakes from all the three fics when I'm done with uploading this one.

_Aimee:_ yes, there's something about the caretaker… and you'll be surprised when you find out.

_SiriDragon_: I hope your teeth are all right by now. It sucks to have toothache. I never had braces, but I know that it must be very annoying, because some of my friends had braces and they kept complaining all the time.

_TaMaraR_: I'm glad I could make you laugh :)

_Princess Ginny_: congrats, 84 is great!

_Nefertiri:_ another reviewer told me that she knew someone called James, who went by the name Jim and Jimmie, so it could be used as James' nickname.

_C-chan_: oh, I loved Myrtle in the movie, she was one of the best! I've always liked her character. And yes, she does remind me of Marvin, too :) Sorry, I really have no idea who Haldir is. I read The Two Towers three years ago and barely remember it. The movie hasn't come out here yet, it will in about two weeks, I guess.

_Any last requests_: glad you like my characters. Actually I feared they'd suck, but according to my beta I handled them really well. You're right, I think that the Forbidden Forest in the movies looked very idiotic. I imagined it totally differently after reading Rowling's descriptions. There should have been more trees and bushes, it simply lacked the undergrowth. 

_Lainy_: do you have some drawings scanned? If yes, I'd like to see some of them :) I agree, Tom Felton is really hot. But IMHO Dan Radcliffe and Sean Biggerstaff are hotter.

_Bucky_: hi there! I thought you had already forgotten about me. Glad you haven't. No, I haven't forgotten about our mutual hatred of Cho. Just wait it out, you'll be pleased with what will happen. About Dan and Liu… don't worry about that, either. 

_romina_: glad you liked it :)

_Inken:_ are you German? How cool! Could I ask you a huge favour: would you be willing to exchange mails with me? I need some German people to talk to in German, to keep exercising that language. If you'd like to be my email-friend, could you please give me your email-address?

_jennaration_: you're right, I'd also like to taste the Honeydukes sweets!

_Kit Cloudkicker_: yes, the next Marauders come from Slytherin :) Certainly I'm NOT telling you who the enemy is right now. You'll find out in chapter 27 *wicked grin*

_Alexander Phoenix_: The Three Musketeers? And which of Dan, Norbert and Gilda do you think is Athos, Porthos and Aramis? Just wondering…

_Houou_: feel free to practice on the Gryffindors ;)

_Lady Schezar_: well… no.

_Allie_: I'm doing so :)

_2Coolio_: I'm afraid I'm not always *that* original, that's why I had to use the saving Gilda part, but I think that from now on there won't really be any imitations, because soon there'll be a real plot.

_FireBolt9000_: Cho's always up to something, isn't she? 

_apple-pie_: action coming in chapter 12. That's not so far away anymore, have a lil bit of patience :)

_Zenon Lee_: I don't know about you, but I remember my own childhood, and I got to know how children were conceived when I was eight years old (it was quite funny, a four-years-older neighbour boy asked my friend and me whether we knew how it went. We said 'no, we don't', and he said 'do you want to know?'. So, he told us, and then I went home and asked my good old granny whether it *really* went that way. Now I have to laugh at my boldness, because according to mum my grandma was very prudish. That question must have been quite a shock for her, LOL.) Anyway, from that time on I just *had to* think of sex a lot – in fact it was evil old Agi who spread the news to her classmates in the primary school – so to say *I* corrupted them all ;) And I remember that all kids of 10-11 years talked a lot about sex, even only in connection with jokes. But we talked about it a lot, nevertheless. Where exactly do you live? China? Perhaps where you live, children don't discuss this topic at such a young age, but here in Hungary they do. Now even six-year-olds know how children are conceived, it just cannot be kept a secret. I don't even want to imagine Harry dying. Let's just assume that the old fraud Trelawney wasn't right, okay? :)) You'll see more of Cho, certainly, but not *too* much. The Gryffindors won't necessarily get those points back.

_Wood's secret lover_: there'll be a lil bit of Harry/Cho, but not much, so you don't need to worry. I'm not taking ages to upload a chapter, usually just a week :)

_jasper_: sorry, you're on the wrong track ;)

_Neus_: I'm glad you passed one of your exams :) About Snape and the caretaker… you made me laugh. But you were totally right! No, The Two Towers hasn't come to Hungary yet, it will some time in January. Yeah, I'd like to see the 3rd movie, too, but its shooting hasn't even started yet :( It'll only be out in summer of 2004. I never thought that Hispania meant Land of Rabbits – that's sooo hilarious! We also have a nice aquarium in Budapest. It has sharks, too :) I really like futuristic-looking buildings! No, Whitsun has nothing to do with the solstice, it's the seventh Sunday after Easter, when Christians celebrate the Holy Spirit coming down from heaven. You surely have this celebration, too, don't you?

_Myr Halcyon_: come and join the Jacen-Hater Club! :)) Don't worry about sucking at writing action, I suck at it, too. I'm much more into comedy, I guess. But, besides humour, there'll be a lot of drama in this fic. Much more than in the first two. However, I can promise you a funny finishing line. All my final lines are funny, and I'm not changing this good tradition :)

_PepsiAngel:_ glad you liked the banana-split :) Yes, the red-golden sparks do have a meaning. Yes, Cho's love for Harry will be important later. And yes, there'll be quite a bit of Draco, I like him very much, I wouldn't leave him out of the story!

_AmandaPanda_: yes, the caretaker will be quite important.

_candygurl83_: glad you like Gilda more now.

_Kamatazi Yumi_: glad you like the mention of Kama Sutra *grin*

_Bamboo Anime_: I didn't really ask anything for Christmas. My big dream was a Slytherin (or Gryffindor) scarf, but you cannot get scarves like that where I live, and no one I know can knit, so I couldn't get that one. But here's what I got: five pairs of socks (according to Albus one can never have enough socks:), some cool fluffy shirts, two pairs of gloves, a Dragon Lance book, some CDs, a hairclip with an owl (that was from my best friend who told me that I had to grow my hair again, because it's been recently cut short, but now I'll just have to grow it in order to be able to wear that owl-clip :) I also got a very elegant grey hat that goes well with my dark-green winter cloak… Slytherin colours ;)

_Pudadingding_: then I feel special :)

_star queen_: cruel? I haven't even been really cruel to Harry yet. That is yet to come ;)

_HP Blone Crazy Chick_: of course I remember you! I remember all of my faithful readers, even if they only wrote reviews for the first fic. Welcome back! *waves happily* I for one wouldn't be disappointed if I got into Slytherin, but I think that Harry's son would be. It must suck for a Potter to be in Slytherin. No, I didn't get tired of reading your review :) Yes, I've seen the HP movie (three times) and loved it! Gilderoy rulez! No, LotR hasn't come out here in Hungary yet.

_Mistri_: really? I'm happy :)

_Waldomier_: yes, hopefully everything will be explained by the end. If not, then don't hesitate to ask.

_Autumn Dreams_: I will :))

_Lapis Lazuli_: was it nice in Florida? Wow, you have many siblings! It must be fun… I'm an only child and I'm often bored. I'm sure you're never bored with so many brothers and sisters!

_King Jasbon_: clever. Yes, J.D. But her being the heir won't be that important. However, A. D. being the heir WILL be important for some reason. I'm always happy when the readers pay attention to details! :)

_Justin_: thank you very much, glad you like my fics! :)

_LilGinny:_ I'm glad your Christmas was nice and your sister is doing fine again :)

_heavenly182angel:_ you might be surprised, but I still answer your review :) I'm glad you finally decided to give feedback. I knew that there were many people (probably hundreds of them) who read my fics and never reviewed… but it made me happy that you did so. Thank you.


	10. Citius, altius, fortius

**A/N: have you heard that according to statistics Rowling became the richest British woman of 2002? And Queen Elizabeth is only the 11th richest in GB! Go, J. K. (and give us book five at last)!**

Please, tell me May the Force be with you, because I'll have seven exams in the next two and half weeks! I really, really need the Force right now! :))

**Warning: some material in this chapter comes close to R rating (though it doesn't reach it). I think it's rather funny, so perhaps you won't be mad at me. But you cannot say that I didn't warn you ;) **

**Chapter 10**

**Citius, altius, fortius **

"Gilda!!!!!!" Gilderoy Lockhart ran panting towards the Flying grounds. "Gilda!" he shouted and closed his daughter into his arms, sobbing.

"Dad?" she disentangled herself from his embrace, clearly dumbfounded by her father's sudden emotional outburst.

"Are you all right?" he asked with a wavering voice.

"'Course I'm all right. Dan saved me."

"Dan?" professor Lockhart looked at the boy. "How? I only saw you from a window - I saw that branch sway beneath you and I started to run downstairs... how did you save my daughter?"

"I flew," Dan shrugged, just to be hugged by Gilderoy so tight that one of his ribs might have broken.

"If you saw Gilda from the window, why couldn't you just stop the branch from breaking?" Norbert asked the P.E. teacher.

"Well..." Gilderoy blushed. "I'm not that good in that kind of magic..."

Daniel stifled a chuckle – his father had told him how clumsy a wizard Mr. Lockhart was.

"And you, professor?" Norbert turned to Neville. "Couldn't _you stop Gilda from falling?"_

Professor Longbottom shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm not good at this kind of magic, either. On the other hand, not even Albus Dumbledore could have saved the young lady - I remember a Quidditch match in my third year when Harry Potter fell off his broomstick because of the dementors, and all Dumbledore could do was slow his fall down a bit... had young Potter here not acted, Ms. Lockhart would be with us no more."

"My hero!" Gilderoy exclaimed and lunged himself at Dan to hug him again, but his daughter stepped between the two of them - to Dan's utter relief. So, the father embraced his daughter once more, tears glinting in his eyes.

"He loves her, after all," Dan whispered to young Malfoy. "Just hid it well."

* * * * *

"Oh, here comes Dannikins, the ickle hero!" Kevin greeted Daniel as he joined the queue standing in front of the door of the Great Hall, waiting for lunch. "You must be very taken with yourself now."

"You are jealous," Norbert said calmly. "Jealous because you haven't saved anyone's life yet, while Dan has already saved four lives."

"Four?" Viv raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah - Gilda's and yours," young Malfoy pointed at Kevin and the twin girls.

"He hasn't saved our lives, but ruined it!" Valentine stamped her foot.

"Still angry about those 300 points, eh?" Norbert squinted at her. "I understand. It must suck to lose so many points. How many points does Gryffindor have right now? Minus 220? Slytherin has 120 already, and Daniel has earned twenty of those. You must be very unhappy that he's not in your house... but Gryffindor's loss is Slytherin's gain."

"Who's talking about losses? Just to inform you, Gryffindor is going to get back at Slytherin in a month - on the Quidditch pitch!" Viviane snapped.

"So sure about it?" Norbert smirked. "How could you expect to win with that pathetically feminine little team you have? Exactly how many girls are on your team? Five? And just two boys?" he laughed. "Prepare for a grim defeat, chicks."

"And may I ask why you are so sure that you'll win?" Kevin crossed his arms.

"Because Slytherin has good players. Five males and only two girls. I'm also on the team, just got selected to be Beater. So is Gilda... she's also playing Beater. Ehm, you remember how well she can _beat, don't you? And of course we have Dan, too."_

"Daniel?" the Weasleys gaped. "What are you playing, Dan? A new position maybe - _Faller?"_

"Seeker," young Potter replied calmly and entered the Great Hall as the doors opened. His friend followed him.

"And _they are talking about Gryffindor's defeat!" Kevin snorted. "Daniel is afraid of flying... beating them will be a piece of cake."_

"Don't be so complacent," Val frowned. "We've seen him save that girl - he was good. Damn good."

"Mere luck," Kevin shrugged. "And even if he was good, you two would still make his life a hell at the match, right, girls?"

"Aim at the twigs of his broom?" Viv pondered.

Kevin nodded. "That was how he fell off Uncle Harry's old _Firebolt six years ago. It was an accident then - it will be deliberate at the match."_

* * * * *

"I'm very proud of you, son," Harry told Daniel that afternoon in his study. "You have overcome your fear and saved Gilda's life. That was a very brave thing. You have found your way into Gilderoy's heart - he hasn't stopped praising you all day. I guess you'll have to prepare to put up with his enthusiastic ways of showing gratitude."

"Great," the boy grimaced. "That will provide another reason for the Weasleys to taunt me. They have already told me their opinion: that I must be very complacent about my 'heroism', but they'd still wipe Slytherin off the Quidditch pitch, no matter that I'd be playing..."

"What?" Harry cut in. "You'll be playing Quidditch?"

"Yeah. Seeker," Dan shrugged. "Like father like son."

"This is... quite a surprise."

"But not a good one, as I see," the boy remarked. Harry's expression really didn't look too happy.

"Don't get me wrong, Daniel," his father said. "I'm happy for you... being selected Seeker is a great achievement, and I wish you good luck with it, but..."

"...you'll be rooting for Gryffindor. That's what you wanted to say, right?"

"Not exactly," Harry shook his head. "As a teacher I must be impartial. So I can't be rooting for either Gryffindor or Slytherin. On the other hand... both teams contain one of my children and I wouldn't hurt Lily by rooting for Slytherin, or you, by rooting for Gryffindor."

"Oh, I haven't even realised yet that I'd not only be playing against the Weasleys but also against my sister. This sucks..."

"Do you feel ready to play against her?"

"I feel ready to play against Kevin and the twins," Dan replied defiantly. "They were my reason to join the team, after all."

Harry gave his son a disapproving look. "So you did it out of anger, to avenge yourself... Anger is a bad adviser, Daniel, don't forget that."

"I won't. I've got to go now, dad. Detention's awaiting."

As the door closed behind the boy, Harry heaved a deep sigh. Dumbledore had been right when he said that Dan would find his place in his house. _He had truly become a Slytherin._

* * * * *

Harry had an appointment with Ginny that afternoon – they wanted to have a look at the houses that were up for sale.

So, Harry walked into Hogsmeade and headed for their meeting place, _The Three Broomsticks. On his way he saw Mrs. Figg taking her dozen kitties out for a walk, Draco Malfoy ushering a pair of mad goblins out of his bank, and Cho whom he greeted politely but coldly._

"At last, Mr. Potter!" Ginny rose from her chair and gave him a quick kiss.

"Hello, dear. How are you? And that little tyke in there?" he patted her belly gently.

"I'm sure he's doing fine," she smiled, sipping a bit of butterbeer.

"Aren't you supposed to avoid drinking alcohol?" Harry worried.

"Dear... you know this barely contains any alcohol."

"It's still dangerous for house-elves, and a baby is even tinier than an elf, and..."

"Harry..." Ginny laughed. "You're being overprotective again. Don't get me wrong," she reached out to caress his cheek, "I think it's endearing, but... a bit annoying. You kept worrying throughout my pregnancies… with the exception of my first..."

"Do you want me to move to Egypt?" Harry smiled sadly. He had happened to be in Egypt and India when Ginny was expecting their first child. He had been amnesiac back then, not remembering his fiancée, his friends, not even his identity. He hadn't been there when Ginny had had morning sicknesses and mood-swings... he hadn't been able to be there for her when she was giving birth... When Ginny got pregnant again – and again – and again, Harry had decided to make up for the time he missed when she was expecting Lily.

"No way," she shook her head. "I said it was annoying to see you worrying when I was pregnant with Dan, the triplets and Lea, but it was still much better than waiting for news from you, not knowing where you were... it was hell for me, Harry," she took hold of his hand and squeezed it. "You may be protective, Love, just promise me that you won't overdo it."

"I promise, Mrs. Potter. Shall we go?"

They left the pub to have a look at a house fifty feet from Honeydukes – it would have been the most favourable, given how close it was to the shop, however Ginny didn't like it.

"It's too sullen-looking, Harry. Not the right place to raise children in."

The second house for sale proved to be too small for a big family, but the third managed to meet their expectations – and not just meet them, but even surpass them.

The building was painted a cheerful yellow with a pretty thatched roof. There were seven bedrooms, three bathrooms, a hall, a dining room, a kitchen, a huge cellar and a small, built-in swimming pool in it. From outside it didn't look half this big – Harry suspected that some expanding spells had been cast on it. The neighbour to the left had a very similar-looking house, but Ginny stated that it wasn't as pretty as this one.

Mr. and Mrs. Sanders, the current owners, gave the Potters the grand tour in the garden as well.

It was not exactly the house, but its garden that Ginny found captivating: there was a big treeless place for playing Quidditch, a little arbour for resting and a small lake with frogs and lilypads.

"Shall we bring some gnomes as well?" Harry asked, thinking the same as his wife: that the garden reminded them much of that of the Burrow.

She smiled and pulled his head down to herself to give him a lingering kiss. "We'll be so happy here, dear."

"Yes, we will. I just feel a bit sorry for Sirius... he is going to stay in Black Manor, alone... Do you think we could talk him into moving here with us?"

"We might try."

Before Harry returned to the school and Ginny to Black Manor, they paid Ron a visit at his home. They found Hermione there as well – she spent about half of her time in the castle, the other half with her husband and son.

"Uncle Harry!" Rupert, the youngest child of Ron and Hermione ran up to him to give him a hug.

"Hey, young man!" he ruffled the boy's chestnut brown hair.

Harry was happy to spend the evening with his best friends – it had been a while since they had been together like this for the last time.

"So, you are buying the Sanders house?" Ron asked.

"Very likely."

"I'd think it over if I were you."

"Why?"

"Because constantly quarrelling with your neighbours is the worst thing imaginable," Ron replied.

"What do you mean?" Ginny furrowed her brow.

"Your neighbour is going to be none other than..."

"...than?"

"Malfoy."

"Draco?" the Potter couple gasped.

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "I don't know, but it might be the reason for the Sanders to get rid of the house... Sorry if this news destroyed your plans..."

"Oh, how pity, I liked that house so much!" Ginny sighed.

"And you'll continue liking it, dear!" Harry snapped. "We won't give our plans up just because that git is the neighbour!"

"But... he could make our lives a hell, Harry!" Ginny reasoned.

"If he does, we'll do the same," he replied with a small smile.

Ginny didn't understand what kind of reason he had for smiling. "What is so funny?"

"Just imagine, Gin," Harry said, "Malfoy having us... _especially the triplets as neighbours!"_

Ron started to chortle and even Hermione allowed herself a smile.

"I'd – never – let – my – children – go – near – Malfoy!" Ginny replied angrily.

"Maybe you wouldn't, but I would," Harry grinned. "And God help him then!"

"It's nice to see that you're back to normal, mate," Ron smiled. "Hermione told me you've been quite under the weather lately."

"I was, and I still am," Harry shrugged, "but there's nothing I can do, so why brood, eh?"

"It's about your son, isn't it?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Harry replied, his expression changing to more serious. "He has not only been sorted into Slytherin, but also fallen out with his cousins."

"Because of the house points," his friend nodded. "Hermione told me everything."

"And may I ask why _I didn't know about this?" Ginny crossed her arms._

"I... didn't want to worry you with it, honey," Harry replied. "Not in your condition..."

"What condition?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"No need to ask," Ron smirked. "Just look at the way they are blushing."

"Ginny!" her sister-in-law clasped her hands. "This is wonderful! Congratulations! To you too, Harry!"

"Thanks," the Potters smiled.

"Did you plan it, or...?" Ron inquired.

"Not exactly," Harry shook his head.

"It broke, then," Ron perceived and burst into laughter, seeing his sister and best friend turn even pinker.

"What broke?" came a voice from the door that stood ajar.

"Rupert! Go up into your room! It's not nice to eavesdrop on your parents!" Hermione scolded her son.

"All right," Rupert sighed and left.

"Back to our children," Ginny said, "What was this thing about the points?"

Harry filled her in.

"...and Daniel is playing Quidditch just to take revenge?" she shook her head in disbelief. "It's so _not like him!"_

"Exactly. _It's like Slytherin," Harry sighed._

"I can't believe... my son, turning into a..."

"No, Ginny," Hermione spoke up. "Not only your son – my daughters as well. Kevin, too. And they are Gryffindors, still behaving like Slytherins," she heaved a deep sigh. "Let's hope that their antagonism won't last long."

"How could we make them reconcile?" Ginny pondered.

"We'll think of something," her sister-in-law gave her a reassuring smile. "You just don't worry, Gin."

"Speaking of Malfoy," Harry tried to change the topic, "I saw him kicking two goblins out of his bank."

"Oh, that's daily business for him. The goblins are coming to him, demanding that he closes his bank, because _Malfoy & Malfoy is giving Gringotts quite a competition. Allegedly, yesterday one of them tried to kill him," Ron said with a wide grin._

"...and this will be the beginning of another goblin revolution... goblins versus Draco Malfoy," Harry commented. "One day we might read a Daily Prophet headline _'Malfoy & Malfoy exploded by goblins'."_

"Don't even joke about something like this, Harry," Ginny said. "It's such a beautiful building, I'd feel sorry for it if it got ruined. By the way, that other building opposite the bank also looks good. A fast food restaurant, or what?"

"Yeah. Cho's McRice," her husband replied with a grunt.

"Cho? She's back?"

"Uh-huh."

"What is this sour expression, mate?" Ron smirked. "You used to like her, didn't you?"

"No."

"C'mon, Harry, don't pretend she wasn't the first girl to give you an erection!"

"Ron!" both Harry and Hermione gave him a scolding look.

"What is an erection?" came Rupert's voice from behind the door.

"I have told you to go to bed!" his mother jumped up and took the child by the hand, heading upstairs.

"So, what is it, mum?" the boy asked. "Tell me, pleeeease!"

"It's something you'll get to know in time. Good night." To make sure that Rupert wouldn't overhear any more naughty details, Hermione magically locked his door.

"Mummy, I want to know!" came the child's voice through the locked door.

With a small smile on her face, Hermione went downstairs and entered the living room again to see a furious Ginny.

"Why, Harry?" she hissed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why should he have, sis?" Ron asked. "It was just a dream – all teenage boys have such dreams of a girl and many of them marry another girl later. Take Seamus for example – he dreamt about Alicia first and married Lavender. Dean dreamt about Fleur, and..."

"...and who did _you dream about?" Hermione cut in._

"Only you, sweetheart," Ron blushed a bit.

"Glad to hear."

"Gin, it was just a dream, I have already forgotten it," Harry said with a pleading stare, then turned to Ron. "Really, how did you know about my first...?"

Ron turned even pinker. "I saw you. In our fourth year. You were still asleep, but kept muttering things..."

"Don't go into details, please," Harry shook his head, embarrassed, but laughing. "Let's forget Cho. The only woman I love and ever loved is Ginny," he knew this was a bit of a lie, but he didn't care. He wouldn't let Cho or her memory stand between him and his wife. Never.

* * * * *

Daniel, after having returned to the Slytherin common room from his daily detention, got a message from Snape, delivered by Norbert. Snape wanted to talk to him in an hour in his dungeon study.

Dan wondered what his head of house could have wanted from him. 

When he reached Snape's study, he heard voices coming out of it: Snape's and Mr. Bradley's.

When had these two become so inseparable? – he thought and peeked into the room.  The two men were standing with their backs turned on the door, facing a blackboard. The Potions Master was writing some difficult-looking formula on it, while verbally analysing it to his companion. 

Mr. Bradley shook his head and started explaining something Snape must have misunderstood, because he looked quite perplexed as far as Daniel could tell, seeing only his back and occasionally his profile.

The caretaker took the chalk out of Snape's hand, wiped out a number from the blackboard and replaced it with another, then placed the chalk back into the professor's hand.

Daniel couldn't really put a finger on it, but something must have happened between those two, because as Bert touched Severus' hand, giving him the chalk back, they both stiffened, as though an electric shock had coursed through them. For a second they seemed petrified, then Snape hastily stepped backwards. "All right, I understand it now, Mr. Bradley. It seems you can also teach me a bit of Chemistry."

"Yes, professor. Good that our subjects complete each other so perfectly."

"Complete... each other... perfectly," Severus nodded. "Well, thank you for the lecture."

"You're welcome," Bert smiled and headed for the door.

"Mr. Bradley?" the Potions professor called after him.

"Yes?"

"I have never asked before: what makes a brilliant mind such as yours decide to come to Hogwarts and clean the floor? Someone like you should be sitting at Oxford."

"Let me not answer this question just now, professor. When the time comes, I'll tell you everything, I promise."

Daniel had moved away from the door when Bradley first wanted to leave, so the caretaker didn't get the impression of him eavesdropping.

"Oh, hello, Daniel," he smiled. "Are you waiting for Professor Snape?"

"Yes. He wanted to see me."

"Well, then, see you."

Daniel knocked on the half-open door to shake Severus out of his reveries – Snape had been standing in front of the blackboard, gazing at the chalk Bradley had given him. When he heard the knock, he shuddered and looked up.

"Ah, Potter."

"You wanted to talk to me, sir."

"Yes," Snape nodded, his dreamy expression vanished, replaced by his usual 'I'm-disgusted-whenever-I-see-a-Potter-expression'. "Professor Longbottom informed me that you had been chosen Seeker."

"Yes, sir."

Severus stepped closer to him and looked into his eyes in a way that made Daniel screw up all his courage not to turn and run away.

"I want to see results from you."

"Results, sir?" Dan blinked, although he understood quite well what Snape meant.

"Put it this way, Potter: win the game against Gryffindor, or..."

"...or?" no sooner had this little word left Daniel's mouth than he had regretted it.

"You don't want to know, Potter," Snape growled. "Believe me, you don't want to know."

"I understand, professor," the boy nodded. "I'll do everything in my power to beat the Gryffindors. I have no bigger desire."

"Glad to hear, Potter, glad to hear. Slytherin hasn't won the Quidditch cup for seven years now."

"It will, this year," Daniel said, not feeling half as optimist as he sounded.

"I don't want promises, Potter – I want results."

*Just like in an Old Spice commercial.* Dan thought, but nodded.

"Train well, and show the Gryffindors in a month," Severus squinted on a calendar hanging on the wall. "Exactly in a month. Results, Potter!"

* * * * *

Daniel was tossing and turning in his sleep, hearing professor Snape's voice bellowing at him _'Results, Potter!' while he was falling off his broomstick at the middle of a Quidditch match. He was falling, falling, then suddenly someone caught him and held him – two firm, still gentle arms encircled his body, and he turned around to see that the person who had caught him was Gilda Lockhart. She was smiling sweetly, her arms holding him tight, maybe too tight – her hands touching parts of his body that made him feel ticklish even through his Quidditch robes... no, it didn't exactly tickle, it rather sent shudders down his spine and warmth to..._

Dan sat upright, breathing heavily. He reached out of the curtain of his four-poster, put on his glasses and almost let out a terrified yelp.

Harry's slumber was also fitful – he had some kind of a headache that kept torturing him even in his sleep. It happened so that the worse your sleep was, the weirder dreams you had. It was not the first time Harry was having this particular dream – it was a returning one with letters dancing in it, arranging themselves into words, but whenever he tried to remember what those letters and words were, he could never recall them. Sometimes a woman's scream tore at his dream – the woman was suffering for some reason he did not know, and then there was a green flash of light and Harry woke up, panting, his whole body drenched in sweat.

He started to get annoyed by his returning dream and was grateful to be awoken by someone knocking on his door.

The visitor was his son. He let him in.

"What are you doing up so early? It's just half past six," Harry yawned, sitting back on his bed.

"I had a dream, dad," Dan said, looking very pale, as if he had been sick.

"You too? Hm, there must be something wrong with the Moon or I don't know... I also had a dream and I didn't like it."

"I bet it wasn't as bad as mine," the boy replied. 

"Why? What was yours about?"

"I almost died in it," the boy replied, "then I got saved..."

"Got saved? It couldn't be such a terrible dream, then," his father pointed out.

"No, it's not that... it's that I got saved by _Gilda, and she was..." _

Harry got worried, seeing that his son suddenly turned from chalk white to ruby red. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, but ten minutes ago I wasn't," Dan shook his head. "Because she was... um, pressing so close to me and... and then I awoke feeling something weird..."

"What?"

"I... didn't know at first..." Dan gulped. "It was so scary, dad, I thought I had been seriously sick, and maybe I was, I even contemplated going to Madame Pomfrey, but then I thought it would be so... embarrassing..."

"Dan, I have no idea what you are rambling about," his father cut in. "What scared you?"

The boy's face was now the same colour as the setting sun. "That sticky white stuff, dad."

"Sticky white... oh!" Harry's eyes widened, then he started to laugh, falling back onto his pillows, pressing his hands on his stomach because it started to hurt, laughing so hard. "Oh, Daniel!"

"This isn't funny, dad! I might be dying and you're laughing your head off!" the boy looked downright hurt.

"Dying?" Harry wiped the tears of laughter. "On the contrary, son – you've just started to live... _really live. You've become a man."_

"A man? I still don't understand," Dan frowned.

His father took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, son, this is my fault. I should have told you about this long ago, I just didn't think it'd happen this soon... I was two years older than you when it first happened to me..." a dreamy expression fell over his face. "I dreamt about Cho Chang."

"Chang? Is she related to Liu Chang, by any chance?"

"Yeah, Cho is Liu's mother."

Daniel gasped. Was this Cho the same Cho his father had been talking to in Honeydukes? It had to be, after all... Harry had told this Cho that he had felt something for her, so he could have dreamed about her as well...

It was still confusing for Daniel, but he didn't want to ask more about that woman, fearing that he'd give himself away and his father would get to know that he had been eavesdropping on him and Cho. "So... I'm not dying, dad? I'm not sick at all?"

"C'mere," Harry beckoned his son to sit down on the bed next to him. "And now, we are going to have a real father and son discussion..."

Half an hour later Dan left Harry's room, his head spinning with all the new information on male adolescence. He had known a couple of things about sex beforehand (e.g. the 'plug goes into the socket'), but there were lots of things that he had been unaware of – like wet dreams, that Harry had told him about now. Dan left Harry's room feeling a lot cleverer, but somehow he had the impression that his father still hadn't told him everything… And there was one question that Harry surely wouldn't have been able to answer: _why Gilda? He didn't even like her that way... he liked Liu. Gilda was a good friend, but he rather thought of her as a buddy than a 'girl'._

With a sigh he headed down into his dorm, hoping that he wouldn't have to talk to Gilda in the near future – or he'd surely die of embarrassment.

All through Potions Daniel couldn't keep his mind off his early morning 'event', although he sat as far from Gilda as possible. Strangely, Snape didn't seem to be as nasty to him as at his first Potions lesson. 

It was also unbelievable for Dan that he had spent only a week at the school – so many things had happened in this short period of time that sometimes he felt as if he had arrived at Hogwarts several months ago.

His cousins kept sending him withering glances, but it didn't bother him.

At Charms, he had serious difficulties with a simple heating charm and froze the glass of water he was supposed to heat. Kevin and the twins were derisively laughing at him, but not even that bothered him now – whenever he heard a mocking laugh, he thought of Liu to get into a bit better mood – but this time his mood didn't improve a bit when he realised that thinking of Liu made him get into the same state he had been in the morning. "Oh, shit!" he murmured.

"What?" Norbert asked, flicking his wand at his glass, making the water boil at once.

"I've got to... er, Professor Potter?" Dan put up his hand after having arranged his robes to hide his lower parts.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"I don't feel well, professor. May I go out into the bathroom?"

His father nodded, looking worried, but his expression changed at once when he saw that his son was holding the hem of his robes in a rather peculiar way. He hid a grin and continued lecturing the children about the counter-charm to the previous one: the cooling charm (not the same as the Flame-Freezing charm, but a much simpler version).

As Daniel left the classroom, he heard Kevin chortling: "Does ickle Danniekins have to pee?", but he didn't care at all.

One minute later he slammed the door of the nearest loo shut and was just about to begin what Harry had so willingly explained to him in the morning, when he got the strange feeling of being watched. He turned around to see a ghost hovering behind him, eyeing him in a curious way.

"Myrtle!" he gasped. "What are you doing here? This is a men's bathroom and you're a girl!"

"You also came into the girl's bathroom and you're a boy... or a _man, as I see," she added with a giggle, her gaze focused on the area under Dan's waist. "A bit early developed, aren't you?"_

"No, I'm just one year older than my classmates because I was born a squib and got powers the year after my birth and came to school a year late... and I have no idea why I'm having this conversation with you," Dan growled with a suffering expression – the pressure in his pants started to become unbearable.

"Maybe because you know that I'm interested. May I watch?"

"Hell, no!" he shouted angrily. "Now I know how you could have witnessed Lily's conception. You are spying on people all the time, aren't you?"

"No!" she cried. "I only watched your father, honestly! He was the only person I liked to spy on!"

"Oh. And why are you spying on _me now?" Dan frowned._

"Because you are so much like him!" she sighed.

"Oh, no," the boy groaned, both with pain an annoyance. "You're in love with my dad."

"I used to be... but now he's a grown man and I'm still a teenage girl...  so I thought I could use you as a Harry-substitute..." she shrugged.

"A Harry-substitute?" Dan laughed sarcastically. "Get the hell out of here!"

"Okay, I'm leaving now!" she snapped. "But don't expect me to give up on you, because I won't!" with that she vanished.

The boy heaved a deep sigh and pulled on his zipper, thinking that if this was what being a _man meant, he'd gladly give it up._

* * * * *

Daniel spent the following month with trying not to think of any girls at all. It still didn't help him too much – to his great annoyance he kept having wet dreams. He was not only miffed about them, but he also felt that something was amiss with him. According to Harry the reactions of his body were totally normal for a teenage boy, but Daniel didn't want to tell his father that there was something else, too. He couldn't really put a finger on it, but ever since the day he became a 'man', he felt something strange – as though he had been filled with a mystical energy... still this energy didn't make him be more skilful at Charms and Transfiguration, neither did it help him feel fit after exhausting P.E. lessons and Quidditch training sessions. He felt this energy a burden – something that didn't help him with anything, just wanted to burst out of him, suffocating him with its presence. This couldn't be just his hormones, could it?

With every passing day he felt more and more full of this mysterious and disturbing energy, but he had no idea how to give it out of himself. At first he thought it had to be his hormones and he could easily get rid of his excess energies by 'playing with himself', but no, it did not help. This was nothing to do with his adolescence.

While he had been eager to get near Liu Chang at his first Astronomy class, he tried to be as far from her as possible later. She even asked him whether he wasn't interested in Uranus anymore and he blushed furiously... since he had realised that 'Uranus' and 'your anus' sounded very similar, and that he was more than interested in her... oh, no.

So, from that time he was avoiding Liu.

He had a much more difficult time avoiding Gilda Lockhart, since she not only insisted on sitting near him at every class, but also played Quidditch and he had to endure her presence three times a week during training as well.

The training sessions were going all right, under the leadership of the sixth year Slytherin Quidditch captain, Ted Avery, who was giving the team quite a workout. Daniel was downright grateful to him for making them work so hard, because after tiring training sessions he never had unwanted dreams and embarrassing awakenings.

Ted Avery was playing Keeper on the team, the Chasers were Lavinia Flint, Patrick Parkinson (Pansy's second-cousin) and a boy called Walter Wimple (a relative of Gilbert Wimple of the Committee on Experimental Charms). Parkinson and Wimple were fourth-years and knew each other well enough to be able to cooperate brilliantly. Lavinia Flint, who had joined them only this year, seemed to be able to adapt to them easily, so the captain wasn't worrying too much about his Chasers. He also seemed to find the two Beaters – Norbert and Gilda – rather promising, and it was almost always Daniel who got all the dressing-down from Ted, most of the time for no reason. Dan put this down to the importance of his position – Avery surely wanted him to train as hard as possible, since the outcome of the match depended on the Seeker. On the other hand, Dan had the impression that Avery didn't really welcome him on the team – maybe because he was a Potter, thus inadequate for being a Slytherin.

However, Dan didn't mind the rough treatment he got from the captain – at least it kept his mind off his other problems. All he had to do was concentrate on the Snitch and imagine the furious face of Kevin when he caught it before him. 

Strangely, as the days and weeks passed, his thirst for taking revenge on his cousins got dampened a bit and he wasn't dying to beat the Gryffindors so much anymore. Once he mentioned this to Norbert, who was beside himself with fury and immediately reminded Dan of his cousins' nasty behaviour. Somehow Dan had the feeling that Norbert was pouring oil on the fire by encouraging him to take revenge, but he couldn't really find it in his heart to be mad at his cousins so long. Sure, they had been rather mean to him, but he just wasn't the vindictive type. Weeks earlier he felt a great thirst to defeat them, but now this thirst turned into a thirst to prove himself being a good Seeker, but not exactly to 'wipe' the Gryffindors off the pitch. He felt ashamed both for having felt such animosity towards his cousins, and for not feeling too devoted to the Slytherin team, either.

Although most of his Slytherin classmates seemed to have accepted him, he still didn't feel too happy in his house. Maybe he would never feel happy there...

* * * * *

Meanwhile, the Gryffindors were training just as hard for the upcoming match as the Slytherins. Their captain, Olivia Ollivander, was playing Chaser along with Lily Potter and Circe Diggory. Viviane and Valentine Weasley got the positions of the Beaters, and there were only two boys on the team: the Keeper Christopher Wood and the Seeker Kevin Weasley.

On the day of the match, Olivia was giving the usual pep talk to her team: "We know that the Slytherins have better brooms than we do," Indeed, Slytherin had _Rocket 6000 broomsticks, while Gryffindor had __Thunderstorm 4500s. "We know that they have more males on their team than we do, but we don't care. We'll show them that girls can be just as good at Quidditch as boys! Of course this does not concern you," she gave a smile to Kevin and Chris. "So, the Slytherins have great advantages over us, but we will still win this game, won't we?"_

"Oh, of course, Olivia!" the other six players cheered.

"Especially if you two manage to knock Dan off his broom as planned," Kevin whispered to the twins, who nodded. They didn't notice that Lily was listening to them...

* * * * *

"The day has come, Potter. Results," Professor Snape told Daniel that morning over breakfast.

"Certainly, sir," the boy nodded, trying not to show his nervousness, although he was trembling from head to toe.

"Think of the rude things Kevin and the girls told you," Norbert said. "Remember what they called you: filthy Slytherin, and a weakling... they laughed at you every time you failed in a charm and wanted to see you fall off your broom..."

"Okay, Norbert, enough!" Dan snapped. "I remember all of these!"

"Then you know what you have to do," his friend grinned. "Show 'em, Dan!"

"Don't worry, I will!" young Potter jumped up from his chair to bump into his sister. "What is it, Lily?"

"I have to talk to you, Dan," she said hastily, looking very pale.

"Sorry, I'm busy."

"But this is important!" she protested.

"Sod off, Gryffindor, don't you see that he's not interested?" young Malfoy growled at her and grabbed Dan's arm, dragging him out of the Great Hall.

"What if she really wanted to tell me something important?"

"She just wanted to unnerve you right before the match, mate," Norbert said. "Calm down, we're starting in half an hour."

Daniel gulped. Half an hour? He had barely been able to swallow a pumpkin pasty, and now even that single pasty wanted to come back. "I'm sick..." he mumbled and ran off to the toilet.

"Watching you wanking was more fun than watching you spewing," a voice spoke up as he washed his face a couple of minutes later.

"Beat it, Myrtle," Dan sighed. He had got used to the ghost following him around, but still found her terribly annoying.

"Hey, don't get mad at me," she smiled. "I just wanted to wish you good luck."

"Did you?" he raised an eyebrow. "I never thought you'd be rooting for Slytherin."

"I'm not rooting for Slytherin, I'm rooting for _you. Good luck, Daniel."_

"Thanks. I'll need it."

* * * * *

"It has finally come – the season's first Quidditch match, Gryffindor versus Slytherin!" came the commentator David Dursley's voice through the magical microphone. "The two teams are lining up on the pitch, Gryffindor led by captain Ollivander, Slytherin led by captain Avery! This year three new players joined the ranks of the Gryffindor team, and we can greet four new ones among the Slytherins!"

Daniel thought that David didn't seem to be partial at all, which was strange since he had heard about Lee Jordan calling the Slytherins all names imaginable. Was David's impartial behaviour to be put down to his friendship to Daniel? Maybe he didn't want to hurt his cousin by degrading Slytherin. That was nice of him...

All the spectators had taken place on the stands, waving red and green flags and cheering. Harry was sitting somewhere on the imaginary dividing line between the supporters of Gryffindor and Slytherin – this way showing that he didn't belong to either team's supporters.

Dan caught his father's eyes and was somehow relieved by the soundless message Harry's expression sent him. There were many things in it: encouragement, soothing and a plea... a plea for what? To play fair? Or to forgive his father for not waving green flags? Dan understood Harry a hundred percent: he'd never root for Slytherin, but he'd never want Slytherin's downfall either, given that it would mean his son's downfall as well.

Daniel felt a bit sorry for his father – it couldn't be easy for him to watch a game in which his two oldest children would be playing against each other.

"All right, Daniel?" Gilda asked, shaking him out of his reveries.

"Yeah," he gave her a smile – probably the first smile since his dream about her.

"You're smiling at me again," she perceived a bit sardonically. "My, what an honour. I felt you were avoiding me."

"Avoiding you? No. Why would I want to avoid you?" Dan tried to look innocent.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "It just didn't feel too good, Dan. I thought you weren't my friend anymore."

"But I am. I'm just a bit troubled... the match, you know."

She gave him a 'don't-take-me-for-a-fool-I-know-it's-something-else-not-the-match'-stare, but he tried to look as though he hadn't noticed.

He looked over to the Gryffindors who were putting their heads together, discussing something. Only his sister Lily was looking over the heads of her teammates, giving her brother worried glances.

"And professor Longbottom walks onto the pitch to start the game!" David Dursley announced. Neville grabbed his broomstick, mounted it and opened the crate containing the four balls.

Ted Avery gave his team-mates a last glance – his stare stopping on Daniel, as if sending him a silent message 'win the match, or...', then they saw Neville release the Quaffle and all fourteen players soared up into the air.

"The Quaffle is by Circe Diggory of Gryffindor, she passes to captain Ollivander who tries to score... captain Avery saves!" young Dursley's voice bellowed. "Parkinson gets the Quaffle, a nice Bludger from Viviane Weasley and he drops it!"

While the six Chasers, four Beaters and two Keepers were playing with all their might, Daniel and Kevin didn't have much to do – the Snitch hadn't been spotted yet. All the two boys were doing was keeping a look out for the tiny golden ball and occasionally exchanging dark glances.

"Lily Potter scores, Gryffindor in the lead!" David announced and the crowd waving red banners cheered and jumped. Kevin sent his cousin a rather nasty grin.

"Beater Lockhart sends a Bludger towards Keeper Wood, but Beater Val Weasley directs it onto a new course... uh-oh, someone tell Madame Pomfrey to prepare a bed for Chaser Wimple!"

Walter Wimple indeed got a Bludger to the head and almost fell off his broomstick. His head was bleeding badly and he must have been close to losing consciousness, but somehow he still heard Ted Avery instructing him to leave the pitch. Professor Snape helped him sit down on the stands and performed a quick spell to stop the bleeding. However, Wimple didn't seem to be able to continue playing.

Slytherin was one Chaser short, and Kevin smirked at Daniel again.

In the next five minutes Gryffindor scored twice, leading 30 to zero. Finally – thanks to Norbert's brilliant handling of a Bludger – Olivia Ollivander dropped the Quaffle, Lavinia Flint caught it and scored – 30:10.

Patrick Parkinson caught the red ball next, to add another goal to Slytherin's glory. Right after this Circe Diggory got hold of the Quaffle and swooped towards the Slytherin goalposts, but got hindered by Gilda's Bludger and the opportunity to score was again by Lavinia Flint.

While David Dursley adjusted the magical screens to show 30:20, Lily Potter suddenly appeared next to her brother.

"Dan!"

"What?" the boy knitted his eyebrows. It was not accustomed for the players of the two opposing teams to talk during the match – with the exception of shouting 'sod off's and 'fuck you's.

"The twins... they..." Lily began, but got dragged away by a furious Captain Ollivander, who started giving her a thorough telling-off for not being around when Circe dropped the Quaffle, thus not being able to catch it before Lavinia did.

Lily shouted Olivia a 'sorry' and soared forward to take the red ball from Ms. Flint, if possible. 

It wasn't possible.

Slytherin equalised: 30:30.

Dan was just wondering what his sister wanted to tell him so badly that she even risked Gryffindor's victory, when he suddenly saw something flash in the morning sunshine.

Something gold...

He immediately directed his _Rocket 6000 towards the little golden ball that kept zigzagging among the players – and so did Kevin on his __Thunderstorm 4500._

Dan was getting closer and closer to catching the Snitch when he felt his broomstick buckle... it had got two Bludgers into the twigs that got smashed to smithereens at once.

The _Rocket 6000 started to lose height._

Young Potter madly tried to jerk the broomstick upwards, but it just didn't want to obey him, it kept speeding towards the ground instead.

Ten meters before the impact...

He didn't see Viviane and Valentine shaking hands...

Seven meters...

He didn't see the ashen face of his father hopping up from his seat and casting some fall-slowing charm on him along with professor Snape and both Dumbledore brothers.

Four meters...

He didn't hear all the terrified voices screaming...

One meter...

The impact broke his broomstick into half and very possibly his right leg as well. He fell onto his back, and despite his pain he hastily pushed himself up onto his elbows to see the Snitch whooshing six meters above him, with Kevin in tow...

Suddenly he heard everything: people screaming on the stands, some with excitement, some with fright... then he saw the two Gryffindor Beaters laughing and pointing at him... finally his gaze shifted to Kevin again... 

Two meters... one... and he'd reach the Snitch...

The Weasley boy stretched out with his right hand, leaning forward as much as he could, his fingers grazing the tiny golden ball... when it suddenly exploded.

It wasn't a big explosion, but it was enough for the Snitch to vanish in a puff of smoke, and Kevin grasped the thin air.

A malicious smirk appeared on Daniel's face, then he collapsed and blacked out.

**A/N**: the chapter title is Latin, is means: _quicker, higher, braver_ (at least I think so, I still don't speak Latin) - it's the motto of the Olympic games. I thought it'd suit a Quidditch match.

Before you start hinting that I 'borrowed' the exploding ball idea from the CoS movie, let me tell you that I wrote this part back in July and of course I saw the movie just a month ago, thus I couldn't have taken the idea from there. In fact I found the 'Hermione-blowing-up-the-Bludger' piece a bit irritating – in the book the Bludger wasn't blown up, so why do it in the movie???

_Katie Bell_: yeah, you didn't review in time for chapter 8, so I'm thanking you now :)

_Nefertiri:_ I envy you for speaking a bit of French.

_Frostic Chibi_: perhaps *enigmatic smile*

_Red Ridding Hood_: you sometimes call your parents madam and sir? Whew, that's VERY strange for me! Glad you love Norbert so much ;) You said you could translate TGSoHH into Spanish. Well, a Mexican boy called Pablo told me a year ago that he'd translate it, but he hasn't contacted me ever since. But perhaps he really translated it, I have no idea.

_heavenly182angel: _a Dan/Liu relationship? Not much of a chance, but we'll see…

_ruffled owl:_ the HP books are BETTER in Hungarian than in English. Don't look at me like that, it's the truth! Our translator is a genius and translated the whole stuff in a brilliant way, making it be even funnier than the original. But I read the first book in German as well, and the German translation is cr*p.

_Lavendar Brown_: the Potions sex ed is in the 12th chapter of TGSaWCS (round the middle of the chapter).

_X-Tow-Naga:_ it must have been my bad choice of English – I know that there are millions of galaxies, I should have used that instead of several. Sorry, language mistake. Well… perhaps Gilda does have something for Dan… but it's not like Hermione, since I don't think that Hermione has EVER HAD anything for Harry. She's just Harry's friend, but she has something for Ron, so my story will be different in this respect. Very different.

_Myr Halcyon_: don't worry, not all Weasleys are like Slytherins, you'll see in chapter 16. 

_Kit Cloudkicker_: well, he made Seeker. Though many readers didn't want him to.

_Houou:_ no, you're definitely no nuts :)

_Black Ice_: foreshadowing? Perhaps ;) Sorry, but I just had to make Kevin and both of the twins play Quidditch – plot reasons. They had to knock Dan off his broom in order to… *Agi slaps her hands over her mouth* not telling yet! You'll find out in a couples of chapters. I must admit that I was playing with the thought of making Dan Chaser instead of Seeker, but then I got this funny plot bunny and for that it was necessary for him to be Seeker. Sorry.

_C-chan_: I don't remember Agrajag. Which book was it in? I read Hitchiker's Guide only once. About Vega… uhm… I couldn't resist the temptation, LOL. Sorry, I don't really know Sailor Moon. I guess I've seen some minutes of it when zapping, but I never really liked anime so I didn't start watching it. I can't drive, unfortunately, and I'm not likely to learn any time soon, because my family doesn't have a car, so what's the point in learning to drive? Glad you liked the card! :) No, I haven't read the BreadBox edition.

_Alexander Phoenix_: I'll read your fic in about a month, when I'm done with my exams. Please, remind me at the end of January.

_K.C. Hunter_: ooohh… I'm sorry about your father barely being aware of you… I know what it's like: my parents divorced when I was one year old and I barely see my dad, too.

_Inken_: was last chapter the best so far? Well, it's far from what is going to come. Very far. The story's going to be much, much more interesting soon. Neville's current toad is a new one, Trevor died long ago, his new one is called Severus. Please, read my answer to Black Ice about the Quidditch part.

_Zenon Lee_: you're a boy? Oooooh… sorry… for some reason I always thought you were a girl! But I'm happy that you're a boy, it always amazes me that boys also like my stuff :) Yes, we also have sex ed in the primary school, but as far as I remember we weren't shown any pics about badly infected penises ;) Holiday – horny day? LOL, that was funny! Yes, I've read LotR, but I'm not particularly a fan. But I agree, Gandalf was really cool in the movie, I'd like him as Dumbledore. In fact I've read somewhere that he has already signed the contract to play Albus in PoA, but it hasn't been officially announced yet.

_Lana Riddle_: I'm glad you share my opinion on the Astronomy part :)

_CandyGurl83_: yeah… probably she does ;)

_SiriDragon:_ yes, it seems she does… About the costumes… just wait it out, it'll be hilarious.

_Justin_: yes, there'll be lots of romance in this fic, but history won't repeat itself. The story has 31 chapters. As you see, the rivalry between Dan and his cousins is getting stronger and stronger. 

_Missy_: mind-boggling? LOL. And you have no idea how mind-boggling it'll be :) What does the abbreviation bff stand for? I'm ashamed of my ignorance.

_Altec_: well, Norbert's still a Malfoy, so he has to be at least a bit like a Malfoy. When do you usually decorate your Christmas trees? Because you said that you put up the ornaments late – the day before Christmas Eve. In Hungary it counts as early – here we only decorate the tree ON Christmas Eve and no sooner.

_Sean Mulligan_: no, Dan won't dress up like Harry. Yes the Two Towers is out here in Hungary, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm not exactly a LotR fan, but I'll watch it, of course. Perhaps at the end of the month, when I'm done with my exams.

_Lady Schezar_: see, all the three of them made the Slytherin team :)

_Princess Ginny_: LotR came out here last week, but I'll be too busy in the next month to watch it. I'll probably watch it at the end of January.

_goldenstar555:_ well, Gilderoy didn't totally ignore his daughter, did he?

_Lupin's Angel_: I couldn't stop giggling when I read your 'Pettigrew finding Sirius' piece. Huge LOL, you're very inventive! :))))

_Autumn Dreams_: you know that you're the only one who mentioned Snape behaving funnily in your review? I was glad that at least someone loved that part. Silly, isn't he? But he'll be even sillier, just wait it out, it'll be a lot of fun! Poooooor Sev…

_Aimee_: they will stop hating Dan. But not now.

_PepsiAngel_: yeah, Gilda seems to have a crush on Dan, doesn't she?

_Molto Bella_: oh yes, Bert is definitely hiding something. You'll find out what it is in chapter 19.

_Romina:_ I heard that the HP PC game is very difficult. How are you coping with it?

_jasper_: yes, Dan will have more confidence soon, so you won't have to feel sorry for him for a long time :)

_Toby Haine_: can't wait for that mail :) I'll read the new part of your play soon.

_tarantula_: thanks :)

_Indigo Ziona_: what? You tried to make a Potion as a child? LOL! You're right, Dan is very much like Harry, and very much unlike Harry. My beta said the same :) About the ship-guessing… *wink*

_Bucky:_ Gilda doesn't need to loose weight, she's very slim, but she's boyish, that's her problem. I also like Gilda much, much better than Liu. How could Harry have anything to do with a Malfoy? *Agi looks confused*

_Sky_: yes, they'll make up some day.

_Pamela-potter-24:_ sorry, I had a reason to make Dan not win the match. You'll see what it is. About the 1000 days separation for elves – I just thought that elves had quite stupid habits (like wearing tablecloths and slapping themselves), so they might as well have this kind of idiotic rule as well.

_Katrina:_ yes, Mezopothamia is the same as Mesopotamia, I just didn't know how to write it. We in Hungary write it with a 'z' and I thought that there was an 'h' in there, too. Language mistake… it occurs once in a while, given that English isn't my native language. You said you liked Dan because he's very much like James. But wait… we don't know at all what James was like! All we know is that Dan LOOKS like James, but Rowling didn't tell us anything about James' character.

_Kamatazi Yumi_: glad your friend liked the Mrs. Norris part :) We also have a fake tree, we've had it for about ten years, but it looks very real and we always decorate it as though it were a real tree.

_The-Girl-Who-Lived_: yes, poor Dan just wanted to help… but life is often unfair, isn't it?

_DJRowley_: yes, I know and I'm happy about it :) McKellen will undoubtedly be a cool Albus.

_starheart20_: you said in your review that you wanted to tell me something in an email but you haven't. I've been wondering ever since what you wanted to say.

_LilGinny_: what exactly is a Hallmark stuff? Is Hallmark a large warehouse or what? Sorry, I have no idea… I spent New Year's Eve at home, watching TV – on New Year's Eve there's a lot of funny stuff on TV :)

_TaMaraR_: what? Sorry, I didn't get this line: "Gilda is having a David Dursley about Daniel". What did you mean with that? (my lack of English-knowledge is to be blamed, that's why I don't understand some things people write me)

_FireBolt9000_: no, your feelings betray you.

_Bailey Ballinger_: Dumbledore said that the mirror would be moved to a new place – to the dungeons where Harry found it with Quirrel looking into it. But 30 years have passed since then and the mirror could have been moved to a new place again.

_seashell_: they will forgive him and he will forgive them. Someday…

_2Coolio_: you write stories, too?

_The One and Only Amazing Typo_: you dislike Harry? WHY? Do you dislike him only in my fic or in Rowling's books as well? I love him, I can't help. So, you're also a Julie? That's a cute name. In fact my grandpa's dog was called Julie, and I named Aberforth's granddaughter after her :))

_Lainy:_ what is IDK? Yes, you do need a scanner to put pics on the net. I don't have one, so my friend scans my pics for me – but I'll hopefully get a scanner for my birthday in February. Can't wait :) Forbidden Meadow? LOL, I get it!

_nimacu_: that pink and magenta tree must have looked very pretty. Thanks for reviewing, I'm always happy when new people give feedback!

_DeSiRe_: yes, you misspelled it. It's Quidditch (you left out the 't').

_Silver Wolf_: glad you found your way back to me :)

_Bamboo Anime_: what is Tamora Pierce about? I saw that there were Tamora Pierce fanfics here on ffnet, but I don't know what it is. Adopted? My two half-siblings are adopted, too. But they live with my dad and his wife while I live with mum. Your hair is thin? I envy you, mine is simply too thick and untameable. My best friend's hair is also thin and she envies me, but I wish mine wasn't this thick… well, you cannot have everything you want…What or who is MT. Dew? And who's or what's Orlando Bloom? Sorry for asking such stupid questions, but I've never heard of them.

_candycaneOgram_: the names of the people who graduated from Slytherin and Gryffindor are unimportant. Yes, I just needed some vacate positions on the two teams. It was for plot reasons to have first-years on the teams. Gilda knows lots of things, but she isn't totally like Hermione. She's a little bit more mischievous. Why is it important that Dan knows so much about Astronomy? Well, I can't tell you yet, you'll see in chapter 19. The following constellations are circumpolar in Hungary: Ursa Maior (Great Bear), Ursa Minor (Small Bear), Camelopardalis (Giraffe), Draco (Dragon), Cassiopea, Cepheus, Perseus, Canes venatici (Hunting Dogs), Lacerta (Lizard), Lynx.

_Amaranta_:  hope your journey was nice. Yes, I remember most people who have written me reviews, I have a very good memory. I remember many of those who had written reviews for the first fic but not for the second and the third. I always hope some of them will turn up again, and sometimes some really do :)

_Kristen Michelle_: yes, you are right about Gilda and Dan.

_HP Blone Crazy Chick_: boggart? The caretaker? Hahaha! You made me howl with laughter! No, he isn't a boggart. There's another reason for him knowing about the Snape-looking boggart. You'll get to know in chapter 18. For the time being I'm very busy with my exams, but I intend to read your fic. Could you please remind me to read it at the end of January? Thanks :)

_Any last requests_: do you also like Astronomy, then? :)

_BratPackGirl_: sorry about not having updated sooner.

_Ice Kitten_: no problem, I know what it's like to be busy! :)

_Rab:_ yes, lots of Dobby coming! :)

_King Jasbon:_ A. D. meant Albus Dumbledore, not Aberforth, but you're right, that's confusing. Anyway, it could as well mean Aberforth…

_Punky Poet_: I'm glad that you liked TGSaWCS so much (with Draco, and everything), and I hope you'll like this one, too. Fleur's sister is about 23 years old now (she was 8 in book four, that took place 17 years before this story). Kama Sutra is an Indian book (not American Indian), that talks about the art of lovemaking, showing lots of… *pictures* as well, if you get what I mean ;)

_Waldomier_: yes, it's nice to find someone who loves Astronomy! :)) Do you have a telescope? I have a small one that showed me Saturn's rings and four of Jupiter's moons!

_apple-pie:_ glad you liked it!


	11. The masquerade begins

**A/N: thanks for all the wonderful reviews people! And thanks for wishing me May the Force be with you, it helped so far, let's hope it'll help me with my remaining three exams.  :)**

This chapter is dedicated to Nefertiri who has birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday, my friend!

**Chapter 11**

**The masquerade begins**

Daniel awoke in a tidy – perhaps too tidy – room. He blinked, groped around for his glasses and found them on the table standing next to the bed he was lying on. He put them on and realised that he was in the hospital wing.

He glanced to the right and saw another form lying on a nearby bed: the Slytherin Chaser Walter Wimple who had been injured by a Bludger.

He glanced to the left and was surprised to see none other than professor Snape sitting by his bed.

"Finally awake, Potter?" Severus asked.

"Y...yes, sir," Dan gulped, knowing that a thorough dressing-down was about to come: he hadn't managed to give the results Snape had expected from him. "I'm sorry about the lost match, professor..."

"The match wasn't lost, Potter."

"Wasn't?"

"No," Severus shook his head. "After the Snitch mysteriously exploded, no one had any idea what to do – continue the match or stop it? Professor Longbottom said he needed to go to Diagon Alley to _Quality Quidditch Supplies to buy a new Snitch for the school, and it wouldn't be wise to keep playing until then, given that the shop won't open until Monday morning. We couldn't expect the players to carry on for two days and nights, after all. So..."_

"So?" Dan got rather curious now.

"So Professor Longbottom and the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin – Minerva McGonagall and myself – decided to close the match as it was: a draw."

"A draw?" Dan blinked. 

"Yes. Both teams had 30 points at the end," Snape replied. "Never in Hogwarts' history has something like this happened... this was the very first game that ended with a draw... and the very first game in which the Snitch got destroyed," now he gave the boy a piercing look. "Do you have any ideas how it got blown up?"

"No, sir," Daniel said. This was kind of a lie – and still, he was also telling the truth. He half knew the answer, half didn't. Ever since he had become a 'man', he felt that some kind of strange energy was building up in him, searching for a way to burst out of him, and the second before the Snitch exploded, he had actually felt some kind of energy leaving his body. Now, several hours later, he felt the same energy again, although in smaller amounts. As if his body had been refilling itself with this mystical power... a power that he couldn't explain and was afraid to mention to anyone. 

So, after all, he _knew that _he_ had caused the Snitch to explode, just didn't know why and how... and Snape wasn't the right person to try discussing the question with._

"I guess you have visitors," the Potions Master looked up, seeing faces peering into the infirmary.

"Professor?" Dan called after Snape before he could leave the room.

"Yes?"

"Aren't you disappointed in me, sir?"

Strangely a small smile appeared on Severus' face. "Had I been disappointed in you, Potter, I wouldn't have sat up for you."

With that he left, letting Norbert, Gilda and Lily Potter enter.

"Daniel, oh, Daniel!" Lily flung herself on her brother. "It's so terrible, I knew it would happen!"

"What?"

"I heard when Kevin and the twins were planning to aim two Bludgers at once at the twigs of your broom to make you fall... I wanted to warn you, but..." her voice faltered and she started to sob.

"Shhhh... s'okay, sis," Dan patted her on the hand, suddenly remembering that Lily had tried to talk to him twice – once right before the match, once during it. "You wanted to help, it wasn't your fault..."

"Dan..." Lily looked at her brother with her stunningly green eyes, "Believe it or not, I love you."

"Even after the '300-points-incident'?" the boy grinned.

"To hell with those points, you're my brother and I love you dearly," she squeezed his hands. "I wish our stupid cousins would also come to their senses... but they're too proud... I could kick them."

"I'd like to see you kicking them, sis," Dan smiled. "Um... haven't you seen dad?" he found it rather strange that his sister, best friends and even his head of house visited him, while Harry didn't.

"Oh... he's asleep. Professor Snape sent him to bed sometime at dawn. He had been sitting by your bed all night... he was scared to death when you were brought in, Dan," Lily sniffed. "So was I. You looked so pale... thanks to God that you're okay again. I've got to go now," she leaned forward and kissed her brother on the cheek and left.

"_All right_? I can't even move my right leg," Dan scowled.

"Because it was broken," Gilda explained. "Madame Pomfrey put an immobilising charm on it so that it will be able to heal quicker. She said she'd take it off in an hour or so."

Dan nodded. He had already broken one leg when he first fell off a broomstick, and it had caused him six years of fear of flying. But he wasn't afraid anymore.

"Don't worry," Norbert replied, "Madame Pomfrey told your dad that you were all right and he didn't need to worry... my, you really should have seen him... I never thought that the great Harry Potter could be this jittery!"

"Norbert!" Gilda gave him a scolding look. "Of course he was nervous... he was worried about his son. All parents would worry about their kids... even my dad, as you saw it. He never really cared for me, but when he almost lost me, he got desperate and couldn't stop crying."

"Yeah, that was some sight... the handsome Gilderoy Lockhart bawling like a baby," young Malfoy grinned, only to get another disapproving look from the girl. "Really, Dan, you should have seen everyone freaking out when you fell!" he continued. "Ted Avery was cursing like hell and called Gilda and me all things you could imagine... you know, because we couldn't defend you from those Bludgers... and I apologise for it, mate." 

"Me, too," Gilda added. "I feel so ashamed... I'm a bad Beater."

"No, you are not," Daniel smiled at her and gently tapped her hand. "You're a thumping good one, and so is Norbert. You just didn't know about the twins' plans and they must have acted way too quickly, or I don't know... but don't blame yourselves," now his voice turned very quiet, as though fearing that someone else besides his friends would hear it. "Had I not fallen off my broom, I wouldn't have felt so angry and couldn't have exploded the Snitch."

"What???" Gilda's eyes widened. "_You blew it up?"_

"I think so," Dan nodded. "Only I have no idea how I did it. I mean... the instant I looked up from the ground and saw that Kevin had almost touched the Snitch, I wished that he'd never catch it... and he didn't. I don't know... as far as I remember, a picture flashed into my mind... a picture about the Snitch exploding, and a second later it did... as if I had imagined it and it came true. Does it make sense?"

"Not much," Norbert shook his head. 

Dan waved. "Maybe I just imagined that I imagined it... Forget it, it's stupid, really..."

"No, it's not something we should forget... it might turn out to be important!" Gilda reasoned. "You might have special powers, Dan, without knowing it!"

"Special powers?" the boy laughed. "Me? Then why can't I perform the easiest charms, huh?"

"No idea," she shrugged. "Well, it's breakfast time. Coming, Norbert?"

"Just go, I'll come later."

"Okay. Bye, Dan."

As the door closed behind Miss Lockhart, Daniel looked at his friend with a rather serious expression. "She is right."

"What?"

"Gilda was right... I think this – whatever it is that is happening to me – is important. This is some power I never before possessed and have no idea where it came from... but there's one thing that is sure... and promise me not to tell anyone..."

"Wow, a bit too serious today, aren't we?" Norbert smirked, seeing Daniel's stern expression. "All right, all right, my lips are sealed. So, what is sure?"

"That... that I have possessed this energy ever since I..." Dan turned red.

"Since?"

"Since I first had a..." he leaned closer to his friend and whispered something into Norbert's ear.

Young Malfoy started to chuckle, his chuckling quickly turning into a loud guffaw. "Daniel, oh, Daniel! You needn't have whispered... there's no one here besides us... except Wimple, but he's under the effect of a strong sleeping draught."

"You may never know," Dan smiled sheepishly. "Ghosts can turn invisible and some people have invisibility cloaks and..."

"Dan. There's no one in here besides the two of us and an unconscious guy. So you can say in peace that you had a hard-on."

"Shhh!" Dan looked in the direction of the door to see whether someone was standing there, but to his relief the door was closed. Walter Wimple also seemed to be asleep.

"And tell me... was it Liu Chang?" Norbert asked impishly.

"No," young Potter blushed again. "Although it should have been her. I don't understand why... but it was Gilda."

"Are you out of your mind, mate?" his friend gasped. "Gilda's no girl at all! At least... I never counted her as a girl!"

"Neither did I, just... I don't know. Drop the topic, shall we?"

"All right," Norbert agreed. "But if something weird happens to you – for instance you imagine Snape wearing a pink tutu and it comes true, then just tell me that _you did it."_

"I will," Dan grinned, but the grin faded from his face as he spotted Jamie Lupin's head peering into the infirmary.

"Hullo, Dan! I've come to visit you!" the little boy chirped. "Your friend can now go to have breakfast, I'll stay here and keep you company!" he stated in a manner that suggested that Daniel should feel utterly grateful to him.

"Well, mate, I'm leaving, then. I'll be back soon," Norbert smirked.

"Don't leave me alone with him!" Dan mouthed to his friend, but young Malfoy had already left, exposing Dan to little James.

"Tell me, Daniel, why did you fall off your broomstick? And how did the Snitch explode? Did you really break your leg? What is your opinion about the draw? It's quite unusual for a Quidditch match to end in a draw, isn't it? Are you happy that Kevin Weasley couldn't catch the Snitch? Will you ask your parents for a new broomstick?"

Daniel slumped back into his pillow, closing his eyes, but he couldn't close his ears and shut out young Lupin's tirade. For the time being he thought that Snape wasn't that terrible a person after all... not half as terrible as Jamie.

* * * * *

"Lily?" Valentine called out to her cousin.

"What is it?" young Miss Potter knitted her eyebrows, clearly mad at the twins for having caused her brother to fall off his broom.

"Lil, I... we… we are sorry," said Viviane.

"Sorry?" Lily glowered at them. 

"Yeah… it was a stupid idea to knock Dan off his broom… a stupid and dangerous idea. We shouldn't have listened to Kevin, it was his idea… but we feel just as faulty as him."

"You _are_ faulty," Lily pointed out.

"We know. We just wanted you to know that we weren't planning to harm your brother anymore," said Val. "We only wanted to teach him a lesson, but apparently we have overstepped the mark. We didn't want him to get seriously injured, honestly. We are really sorry."

"Why don't tell him in person?" Lily asked.

The twins shrugged, looking embarrassed. "We are sorry… but we cannot face him now and tell him that we are sorry. Later on, maybe, but not now. And please, don't mention this to Kevin, he'd be mad at us."

Lily nodded, feeling a bit relieved. So, his beloved little brother wasn't in any danger from the twins… but she had no idea what to think about Kevin.

* * * * *

The next two weeks were spent in the fervour of preparing for the Halloween masquerade. Everyone wanted to earn a hundred points for their house by wearing the best costume. Daniel's original idea was to wear an orb with a ring around it – saying that he was Saturn - but he thought it would attract Liu's attention too much and he didn't really feel like running off to a toilet to relieve himself during the ball. He wanted to enjoy every second of it, even if he didn't win. So finally he chose to dress up as Merlin – that was not a difficult outfit to make: you just needed some dark blue robes with stars on it and a long, white beard. The latter could be produced of straw painted white. 

Dan only had a bit of a problem with the stars he wanted to place onto his robes, but he found a suitable charm in a library book. It took him a whole week to master it, but he was determined to learn it, so he kept exercising as long as he needed. Finally, he did not only magic glittering stars onto his robes and pointed wizard hat, but – with the use of an exact star chart – he also magicked constellations onto the ceiling of his four-poster, so every time he went to bed he could fall asleep under a thousand twinkling stars. It was a bit like the ceiling of the Great Hall, yet it provided star-light even when the sky outside was cloudy.

Naturally, the education went on as though there had been no ball approaching, and most teachers kept giving the students as much homework as usual. Professor Binns, after his very first class on general history of magic, kept lecturing the children about goblin revolutions, nothing else.

Snape – though he never seemed to have grown to like Dan – at least wasn't nasty to him anymore. Remus was downright friendly with him, although he wasn't the most talented student in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sometimes he felt that he was the clumsiest of all, but Professor Lupin still appreciated his efforts. His wife, Professor Sinistra, was also very satisfied with the boy – given that he showed a great interest in Astronomy (while trying to keep the also Astronomy-obsessed Liu as far from himself as possible). 

After the first lesson Daniel quitted Flying, since he proved to be good enough and didn't need more lessons. Quidditch trials and P.E. classes were quite enough of a movement for him. To his greatest regret, Professor Lockhart had become really fond of him since he had saved Gilda, and kept favouring him in P.E. Although Kevin and the twins were just as good at rope climbing and push-ups as Daniel, Gilderoy only praised Dan and gave points to Slytherin, and never praised the Weasley children, neither did he give points to Gryffindor. Not that this bothered the Weasleys too much – they were angry with Dan for another reason: they were pretty sure that he had something to do with exploding the Snitch. They just couldn't prove it.

The two classes that Daniel hated the most were Charms and Transfiguration, for several reasons. The first reason was that both subjects needed a lot of magical talent – something that he didn't possess. 

The second reason for hating Charms was that it was held by his father and he felt miserable whenever he saw a flash of disappointment in Harry's eyes because of his bungling. The second reason for hating Transfiguration was that it was held by McGonagall, who seemed to despise him. She clearly hadn't forgiven him for the '300-points-incident', and Dan supposed that she'd never ever forgive him for that. Minerva seemed to have got into the habit of sending the boy various belittling glances when he didn't manage to turn a certain object into another. 

"I don't understand you," Norbert told him every time he screwed up a charm. "Why don't you just imagine the beetles turning into coat buttons?"

"I have tried, all right?" Dan snapped. "You have no idea how many times I pictured these beetles looking like buttons, and the little bastards just wouldn't transfigure! I'm not sure about this imagining-stuff anymore... maybe it wasn't even me who blew up the Snitch... I just imagined it, while someone else sent a jinx onto it and it exploded. Mere coincidence."

His friend shrugged. "If you say so. But... don't you feel that weird energy nowadays?"

Young Potter made a grimace. "That's exactly it. I do. I feel it... just can't use it."

"You should ask an adult wizard," Gilda cut in, having eavesdropped on their discussion.

"Who? My father?" Dan snorted, imagining himself entering Harry's study and asking: 'Hey, dad, do all boys have mystical energies that allow them to blow up things by merely thinking of it, after their first erection?' It sounded stupid, even in thought.

"No. He might not know the answer," Gilda shook her head. "He's way too young and not so experienced... ask Dumbledore."

"No way," Daniel replied. He wouldn't walk up to the headmaster and say: 'Professor Dumbledore, imagine, a month ago I had my first hard-on and it gave me powers to explode things!' Stupid, stupid, stupid!

So, he kept this little secret to himself, trying to concentrate on the upcoming masquerade.

* * * * *

On the day of Halloween the whole castle seemed to have woken up early and the air was practically tingling with excitement and anticipation. As Dumbledore had told in advance, a huge, magically heated, orange coloured tent was set up on the Hogwarts grounds – a tent three times bigger than the Great Hall, big enough for three thousand people. No students were allowed to enter till 8 p.m., because a group of architect wizards were working on the tent throughout the day. The children could only guess what all those funny noises coming from the tent could be, but they assumed that the architect wizards were decorating a bit loudly.

Since Halloween was a Monday, all students had to attend classes, but none of these classes were taken seriously – even the strictest professors like Snape knew that there was no point in trying to teach that day – the children wouldn't pay attention.

Daniel had to sit through a very boring History of Magic class, discussing with Norbert and Gilda the list of people they and the other students and teachers invited.

"I didn't invite anyone... I would have invited my triplet siblings, but they are only ten years old, thus not old enough to come," Dan said. "Besides them, many of my friends and relatives will be here."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Dad invited mum, of course. Aunt Hermione invited Uncle Ron. Dad wanted to invite Sirius at first, but Professor Lupin had already done so, so dad could invite an old friend called... Dennis Creevey and his wife Mileta. I know that's three people and one is allowed to invite only two, but it's not taken that seriously, according to dad. As far as I know, that Mileta is the famous Viktor Krum's sister," Dan said. "I heard my cousin Lancelot invited his parents and Kevin invited his fathers, Uncle Fred and George. My grandparents won't be here because they took on to take care of their grandchildren who are not yet eleven. And even my cousin Yvette's Aunt Gabrielle is going to be here. Well, what about your relatives?"

"Well…" Gilda spoke up as professor Binns started to go into details of the life of Sammy the Smelly. "My dad invited my mum, of course... and my Egyptian grandpa too. And you, Norbert?"

"I haven't invited anyone," young Malfoy said bitterly.

"Why? What about your parents? And your brother?" the girl knitted her eyebrows.

"My parents are abroad on some stupid Ministry of Magic mission... and I'd never ever invite my brother to anywhere," Norbert said sullenly. "Anyway, he'll still be here... he wrote me a mocking letter telling me that even if I didn't invite him, he asked Snape to invite him and Snape was more than happy to comply..."

"Why do you hate your brother so much?" Daniel asked.

"Because he never liked me. Not even when I was a small and cute baby," Norbert grimaced. "He was miffed that the family heritage would be divided into two parts just because I was born... he never considered me as his brother, so I don't consider him as my brother. Period."

"Well then... what about your costume, Gilda?" Dan started a new topic while Binns explained why Sammy the Smelly never took a bath.

"I'm not telling in advance! You'll see!" she smiled.

Dan couldn't get her to tell him her costume idea, though he was trying all the way through Herbology. Finally, he gave up.

"It's good, though," Norbert said as they were dressing up for the ball in their dormitory hours later, "that this isn't the Yule-ball type ball."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked as he fixed his magnificent white beard onto his chin.

"We didn't need to get a date," his friend grinned. "Imagine that... who would you have asked? Liu? Or... Gilda?"

"Oh, come off it, Norb!" Dan laughed.

"I wouldn't laugh so light-heartedly if I were you," Norbert remarked. "You may never know what skimpy dresses the girls are going to wear... Good for me that I'm no 'man' yet, but you my friend... you might be running into the men's room every fifteen minutes!"

"Ha-ha, very funny," Daniel adjusted his pointed wizard hat with several magical stars on it. "Just to inform you, that problem has been solved."

"Have you become impotent?" his friend joked.

"No. But dad gave me a spell to take care of... embarrassing situations."

"What spell?"

"It's called _Deminuo and you just have to point your wand at... well, you know what. Dad said it's very effective and he had escaped several awkward situations with its help."_

"And you actually managed to master the spell?" Norbert raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think I joined you at breakfast always so late during the last week?" Dan grinned. "I've been practicing, and the best time for it was the morning... you know why."

Norbert's mouth stuck into a smirk. "Dannie... you utter the name of Voldemort without any fear and you keep calling other things 'you-know-what' and 'you-know-why'... a bit odd, isn't it?"

"No," Dan stepped before a mirror to examine himself as Merlin. "Voldemort is long dead, rotting in hell, not being able to harm anyone, while uttering words in connection with sex can still get you into embarrassing situations. Okay," he smiled at his reflection, "Presentable."

"Me too," Norbert grinned into the mirror, adjusting his two huge fake incisors and sleeking back his hair to which he had applied liberal amounts of shiny grease. "I'm the best Dracula ever."

In front of the huge orange tent there was a temporary fountain that kept pouring lilac and golden sparks instead of water, but had the same tranquil splashing sound as the normal fountains. Daniel found it particularly pretty.

At the entrance all students got a number that they had to plaster to their costumes – these numbers would make the teachers' work easier at voting for the best costume. 

While waiting to get a number, the boys met Gilda – she seemed to be wearing some kind of mustard coloured, tight-fitting suit that had four paw-looking things attached to her cuffs and ankles. Her blue eyes that were enhanced by eyeliner and mascara seemed to look almond-shaped, like that of the ancient Egyptians. She wore some kind of cap – or was it a shawl with a rather peculiar design? The boys had no idea.

"Um... what are you supposed to be?" Dan mused, tugging at his beard.

"Haven't you taken a Care of Magical Creatures book into your hands?" the girl asked, miffed by the fact that the boys didn't recognise her outfit.

"Why should we have?" Norbert said. "We are only in first year!"

"I'm a sphinx, you dunderheads!" Gilda snapped. "An ancient Egyptian magical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman with Egyptian head-dress! Look, I even have a tail!" she pointed at something thin and long dangling from her butt.

Dan fought with his facial muscles not to laugh. And he had been afraid of getting a hard-on from Gilda's costume? Rubbish! This outfit was as non-sexy as possible!

"You know... I have actually seen sphinxes on Muggle pictures," he said, still ogling the girl's strange costume, "but those sphinxes always had... um... _tits_."

"What is your problem with my tits?" she hissed.

"You mean your_ lack _of_ tits?" Norbert grinned, pinning his number to his pitch-black Dracula cloak. "Nothing, silly. Come in or you'll catch a cold."_

Gilda gave both boys a withering glance and trotted into the tent.

As Dan entered after the girl, he had the impression that he had landed in a fairy tale – or at least a wizarding Disneyland. There were not only huge jack-o'-lanters swimming in the air, but also several garlands with huge red clabbert bladders shining on them. The tent's ceiling had been bewitched to show never-ending fireworks, while a couple of small comets had been conjured to occasionally course through the tent and make the ladies scream when it almost clashed with them (but the comets were enchanted in a way to make sure that they'd always change course in the last instant before collision – they were just good for scaring the guests). Even the usual bats flying around were enchanted to be fluorescent and shine in all colours of the rainbow. 

There was a huge dance floor, several small tables to sit down to and twenty huge tables laden with all kinds of meals the guests could choose from. It seemed that the house-elves had worked terribly lot with preparing the meals, but the headmaster didn't expect them to cook for three thousand people a'la carte. It was much easier for them to prepare various dishes and let the guests serve themselves from the buffet.

There was a table for wizard roulette, an area for bowling (equipped with anti-cheating charms), there was even a stand for playing tombola and another for dice. There was a smaller tent at a corner with the script _'Sybill's nook – come and let me unveil your future', and another stand with the text __'Wizard biscuits telling your future' on it – the latter two must have been quite a competition for each other.  _

At the end of the tent there was a dais with several music instruments on them, awaiting the evening's guests stars, the SPEW, who arrived at eight and started to play their most famous song, the _'We are the champions, my elves'._

"Wow," was all Daniel could comment on the decoration.

He and his two friends immediately headed for the huge tables laden with exotic meals, grabbed plates and forks and started to pile all kinds of curious-looking stuff onto their plates, not really caring what those were or whether they'd cause them to have a serious indigestion. On Daniel's plate was a bit of spaghetti ala Bolognese that he had sprinkled with a bit of chilly sauce, a slice of onion-flavoured cake with blue icing, some funny Chinese chicken-balls and into his glass he poured something that smelled wonderful.

"Ah, the Hungarian goulash!" Harry looked admiringly at Dan's glass, into which Dan spilt soup by mistake, clearly not knowing what it was. Harry grabbed a peppermint-filled croissant. "I ate some of that at the Yule ball in my fourth year. Really good, that stuff."

"Dad..." Daniel's glance travelled from Harry's head to his toes, wondering why he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt . "Where's your costume?"

"Don't you see it? I'm a Muggle tonight," he winked and left to find Ginny who was talking to Gabrielle Delacour.

"So, you are running Fleur's florists shop while she is abroad with Bill?" Ginny asked the pretty part-veela.

"Yes, and I'm enjoying it vairy much. I only wish it 'ad been a bit closer to ze bank..."

Ginny was just about to ask why Gabrielle wanted to be closer to the bank when Draco Malfoy stepped to them.

"Good evening, ladies," he bowed slightly.

"Good evening, Draco," Ginny gave him a cold smile.

"'ello, Draco... Long time, no see," Miss Delacour mumbled, turning as red as the setting sun.

"Long time?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I saw you just the other day."

"I meant it was a long time ago zat we last talked to each uzzer," she replied, still blushing.

"Oh..." he grinned. "You mean when you proposed to me eleven years ago?"

"I did not phropose to you!" she snapped.

"Well, but you almost did. You said you'd marry me."

"I never thought you 'ad such a good memory," Gabrielle straightened her back, trying to look as haughty as possible. She was no more blushing, but rather looking like a formidably beautiful and proud veela. "I'd like to remind you zat I was a silly fourhteen-year-old girl back zen wiz no more sense zan a pixie. Now I'd nevehr say such rideeculous zings."

"No, you probably wouldn't say them," Draco smirked. "You'd just think about them."

"I wouldn't even zink about... getting marrhied to someone like you!" she replied angrily.

"Really?" Draco pretended to look hurt. "So you'd say no if I proposed to you?"

"Dhefinitely."

"Okay. Will you marry me?"

"Escuse moi?" Gabrielle blinked, blood rushing back into her face. "I..."

"Gotcha! I tricked you!" Malfoy laughed. "You gave yourself away! You still want to marry me!"

"Rheally? And what do you say to zis?" Gabrielle lifted her hand and gracefully poured her champagne onto Draco's head, then pushed her glass into his hand and left.

"You deserved it," Ginny remarked, giggling. "You are still as stuck-up as you had been when you thought that you could get me."

"I almost got you," he reminded her, wiping champagne off his silvery blond locks. "Ah, I hate these festivities, because I always end up cleaning myself..." he had indeed been spilled with onion sauce and mint humbugs at Harry and Ginny's wedding.

"You don't need to remind me of our little agreement," she said. "I'll never forget that. It was possibly the worst period of my life... believing Harry to be dead..." she shook her head, as if trying to shake those bad memories out of it at least for the duration of the party. "But thanks to God he was alive and I won our bet... and since then I have been the happiest woman on Earth."

"Well, congratulations," Draco grimaced. "You must be really happy with all those six kids."

"Seven... well, almost," she smiled, gently caressing her flat stomach.

"Oh. Another. Congrats. What an achievement," the young wizard wrinkled his nose. "How many more are you two planning?"

"We weren't planning this one," Ginny said. "He just... happened. And we are very happy about it. We are also moving to Hogsmeade. We have bought Honeydukes and are going to re-open it in two weeks. Harry and I have already chosen a house here at the village..."

"Really? Which one?" Draco asked, gulping a bit of butterbeer.

"The Sanders house," she replied coolly, only to see him spit out his drink.

"The Sanders house?" he gasped. "You don't mean it!"

"Oh, but yes, we do," came a voice from behind him and he turned around to see Harry standing there with a wide smirk. "Grin and bear it, _neighbour."_

With a long face, Draco turned on his heels and disappeared into the crowd.

"He took it quite well, hasn't he?" Harry smiled and pulled Ginny to himself.

* * * * *

Daniel, Norbert and Gilda decided to buy future-telling biscuits from the stand next to Trelawney's. On their way there they met Fred and George, who – as always – seemed to be the centre of attention, entertaining everyone around them with their jokes. Kevin the Robin Hood was also standing in the circle of his fathers' admirers and gave Dan and his friends a withering glance as they passed by.

Percy was standing in a corner, adjusting his son's outfit. Lancelot seemed to be a bit annoyed by his father's fussing, but he didn't complain with a word. He still looked relieved when his father left to dance with his wife, Penelope.

"Oi, Lance! What are you supposed to be?" Dan shouted.

"I'm Lancelot, of course!" his cousin said smugly, drawing himself up, tapping a sword-looking thing at his side. His costume strongly reminded of an old Muggle armour with a bright red cloak over it. "_Sir Lancelot, to be correct."_

"My, you must have needed _a lot of imagination to come up with this," Norbert remarked in a derisive tone._

"Shut up, you filthy Slytherin!" Lancelot snapped, jerking his sword out of its scabbard, pointing it at Norbert.

"As you wish," young Malfoy replied, pointing his wand at Lancelot's sword, muttering the heating spell that he had learned at Charms. In an instant the sword started to glow red and turned so hot that Lancelot dropped it, howling, massaging his burnt palm.

"What's happening here?" Viviane and Valentine – both dressed up as angels with white wings and sparkling halos magicked around their heads – ran up to the crying Lance.

"They did it to me!" the boy pointed at the Slytherins. "They burnt my hand!"

"Daniel!" Valentine's eyes narrowed, her face looking as far from angelic as possible. "How dare you?"

"It wasn't him, I did it," Norbert said. "Don't blame him for everything."

"He is your friend. And a Slytherin," Viviane replied. "That's enough for us to blame him." she turned to Daniel. "Now listen to me, Danniekins. If you come any close to poor Lancelot in the future..."

"...then what?" Gilda cut in. "Will you cast him out of Heaven?" she gave an amused glance to the twins' outfit. "Really... where did you get the idea to dress up as angels? You should be dressed up as little devils."

"We might be little devils, but the angel costumes still look better on us than this... this... whatever costume you are wearing!" Viviane spat. "What are you supposed to be at all?"

"A sphinx," Dan and Norbert replied in unison. 

"C'mon, guys, leave the little angels... maybe they'll protect the heroic Sir Lancelot next time," said Gilda.

The three friends bought future-telling biscuits and started to break them open when Lily Potter stepped to them, dressed up as an Indian, with feathers in her hair and battle paint on her cheeks. "Hi, nice beard, Dan. I barely recognised you."

"Thanks, sis," the boy pulled the small white parchment out of the broken biscuit and read it. "Hm... it says I'm going to fall in love. What does yours say, Gilda?"

"The same," she replied. "Stupid biscuits."

"And yours, Norbert? Don't say that you are also going to fall in love!"

"No," young Malfoy shook his head. "It says I'm going to confront my brother."

"Poor Mr. Malfoy," Lily smiled. "By the way, haven't you seen Chris Wood?"

"But of course we have," Dan replied. "He's dressed up as a cowboy. The last time we saw him he was dancing with Yvette who looks like a pink butterfly. There they are! That shocking pink thingie over there! They aren't easy to miss!"

With a forced smile Lily left.

"Poor one. Head over heels in love with Chris Wood," Dan whispered to Gilda.

"And what about you, you poor one?" she whispered back. "You're head over heels in love with Liu Chang."

"How do you know?" the boy blushed.

"You boys think we girls are blind... but we are not," she replied. "And here's your little princess coming..."

Indeed, Liu stepped to them with an older, but still very pretty woman in tow.

"Hullo. May I introduce my mother?" she smiled sweetly. Daniel needed all his willpower to stay indifferent as he seized up the girl, who looked like a geisha. "Mother, this is Daniel Potter, my friend."

"Hello, Daniel," the woman, who Dan supposed was that certain Cho, shook his hand with a smile identical to Liu's. Now at least Dan understood why his father had had a crush on this woman – for the same reason he had a crush on her daughter. 

"Good evening, Mrs. Chang."

"Just Miss Chang," Cho smiled. "And you may call me Cho. Well, take care of my daughter, will you?" with that she walked away.

"Wow... your mum is pretty," Dan said. "Like you."

Liu giggled and blushed, Gilda rolled her eyes and left.

"Hey, lover boy, I'm off to greet that git of a brother I have... I hope I can leave you two alone..." Norbert said with a wink. "And don't forget _Deminuo, Dan!"_

"_Deminuo?" Liu raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"_

"Nothing," Dan blushed. "Shall we dance?"

* * * * *

Around nine o' clock, Cornelius Fudge arrived to say a couple of words about the importance of the event, though nobody really listened.

Albus Dumbledore was rather occupied with Mrs. Figg who – despite her age – looked really pretty tonight. To everyone's great amusement, the headmaster had dressed up as a house-elf with huge, bat-like ears. His brother Aberforth chose a yeti costume, though not many people besides McGonagall knew why he was so fond of yetis. Minerva herself discarded her usual green robes and hat for the occasion and wore braids and a cheerful yellow dress, looking like a girl in the elementary school (a girl with a couple of wrinkles). Aberforth found her downright endearing, and that was all that counted for her. She seemed to have forgiven her husband for not telling her about his former marriage, but she was still giving Julie Dumbledore surreptitious glances, and no one – not even Aberforth – knew what she was thinking of the little girl. Tonight, however, it wasn't surprising that McGonagall was stealing glances at Julie, because so was everyone else – the little blonde Hufflepuff girl wore a fabulous golden galleon costume, attracting huge attention.

Sirius was having fun talking to Remus who had ironically dressed up as a full Moon, and Neville – in a toad costume – was enthusiastically talking to his parents. He still couldn't fathom the grace of life that he had got them back – although it had happened thirteen years earlier. 

Everyone's favourite was Gilderoy Lockhart, who decided to dress up like Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame. Harry shed tears of laughter when he spotted the 'beautiful' Lockhart being so terribly ugly. He still remembered what Gilderoy had told him about an ugly Armenian warlock who had saved a village from werewolves. "No dress sense at all!" Now as he looked at 'Quasimodo', he felt like saying the same, but he refrained from it. Gilderoy, however, seemed to be enjoying himself as Quasimodo, and was in the firm belief that he'd win the teacher's costume-competition.  'You know, if I turned myself _ugly_ for this competition, I have to win!' – he had told Harry. 'You have no idea how HARD it was for me to become ugly!'

While Ron took Ginny to dance, Harry decided to go out and breathe some fresh air, because it was getting rather hot in the tent.

He welcomed the relative coolness of the night air and the fresh fragrance of the trees and the dewy grass – the tent was way too much filled with the heavy smell of the exotic meals and the ladies' perfumes.

"Beautiful evening, isn't it?" came a voice from the magical fountain.

"Yes, Cho, beautiful," Harry sighed inwardly. She was the last person he wanted to talk to now.

"Come, sit down next to me," she patted the rim. Harry sat down, though not too close to her. "You are deliberately keeping your distance," she perceived, pouting.

"Am not," he said, but didn't sit closer. "I've seen that you have opened your McRice at Hogsmeade. Is it running well?"

"Very well, thank you," she replied. "But you are deliberately changing the topic. You are still mad at me because I told you that I had loved you, right?" 

"No," he looked at her. "Yes. A bit."

"I'm really sorry, Harry," she sighed. "Had I known that I'd hurt you with the truth, I wouldn't have revealed it."

"It's okay, Cho... I was just... surprised that you had actually _loved me."_

"Yes, I did love you," she nodded sadly. "And I still left you... that's something I'll never forgive myself. After I left, all I did was look for you in every man... I was looking for your eyes, your hair... your soul and kindness... and once I thought I had found it," she pulled her wallet out of her pocket to show him a picture in it. There was a man in the picture – a man that resembled Harry a bit. He also had green eyes and black hair... he could have been Harry's brother.

"Who's the guy?" he asked.

"Liu's father," she replied with a sad smile. "See... I was looking for you in every man and once I thought that I found you in him... I gave myself to him. Poor Ross never understood why I left him so suddenly... to Liu I said that _he_ had left us… it was easier for me this way… I didn't want her to believe that I was a scarlet woman who had just played with a man whom she didn't love… I really didn't love Ross. For a while I tried to persuade myself that I did… to no avail. One day I realised that he was nothing like you. No one ever could be like you," she lifted her face to glare directly into his eyes.

"Don't... don't look at me like that, Cho, please," he breathed.

"But I can't look at you otherwise. Don't you understand, Harry?" her voice was imploring. 

"I wish I didn't understand!" he jumped up angrily, scaring two people out of a nearby bush: his son and Liu. The two youngsters landed on the grass, Liu in Dan's lap. "May I ask what you two were doing in there? Eavesdropping?"

"Noooo, dad," Dan blushed, his blush quite visible, since he wasn't wearing his beard anymore. He tried to wipe his mouth – but he couldn't make the smudges of lipstick vanish quick enough.

"So, this is how you take care of my daughter?" Cho gave him an impish grin. "You should sometimes check on your son, Harry. Well, I'm going back. I don't want to miss the awarding ceremony!"

"I'm coming too, mum!" Liu called after her and vanished into the tent.

"_So,_" Harry crossed his arms, looking at Daniel who seemed rather occupied with trying to put his beard back into place. "It seems that you and Miss Chang hit it off pretty well."

"No, dad, it's just, er... she doesn't really like me, she just wanted to try what it is like to kiss someone and I came in handy..."

"Aha... so you volunteered to help the lady. How gallant of you, Daniel," Harry's voice sounded sarcastic. "Just let me ask you something, son: do not make me a grandfather any time soon, okay?"

"But... I'm just twelve, dad! How could you think...?" Dan looked up at Harry to see that he was grinning. "You were joking!?!"

"Of course I was," Harry smiled. "However, there is always the risk, I mean... you would be capable... and she looks quite early-developed, too. Promise me not to do anything silly, son."

"I'm just twelve, dad. Really. I wouldn't. You know I wouldn't."

"I thought the same of myself... that I wouldn't. And Lily came along. True that I was five years older than you, still... like father like son. I would like you to be more sensible than I was."

"You don't need to worry, dad. In third year we are going to have sex ed and I don't think I'd do _anything_ until then..."

"All right, I trust you, son. May you be cleverer than your father…" 

The winner of the hundred house points was to be announced at ten o' clock sharp, but every teacher had to vote until then. Harry had seen quite many costumes and he found it rather regrettable that teachers couldn't vote for each other's costumes, because his very favourite outfit was Sybill Trelawney's belly dancer dress. On the other hand he would never have voted for Trelawney who had given him so many disturbing dreams with her idiotic predictions. He still didn't know why Sybill had foretold him _'shock after shock and grief after grief' at the opening-of-term feast... nothing really bad had happened up till now – with the exception of Dan getting into Slytherin. *Silly old rook!* Harry thought, looking at the Divination professor, who was definitely the funniest-looking one of all the staff-members: she was at least eighty years old, yet wearing a skimpy pink dress that left her belly visible. She had even attached a see-through veil to her face, just like an Arab woman. Yes, she really would have deserved to get the award for the best costume – or for the most ridiculous costume? Harry couldn't decide._

Trelawney had tried to lure him to herself for a bit of palmistry, but he politely turned her down saying that he had just spotted Oliver Wood and had some urgent Quidditch-stuff to discuss with him. Although he didn't let Sybill predict anything to him, he bought a future-telling biscuit that had the following line in it: _'You are going to lose something important tonight.' He hastily dug his hand into his pocket and was relieved that his wand was still there. What else could he lose?_

He helped himself to a glass of champagne when he heard a familiar voice calling to him.

"Hi, Dennis!" he greeted the old friend, putting his champagne down to shake hands with him. "Mileta, nice to see you."

Dennis Creevey's wife blushed a bit – she had once been very taken with Harry and had even tried everything to take him to bed – with not much success. "Nice to see you, too. You haven't changed a bit since we last met, Harry."

"Not a bit? I don't think so," Harry smiled. "I have gained three kilos, for example. And yesterday I counted thirteen grey hairs!"

"Oh, you poor one, aging so quickly!" she laughed. "Really, you look good. I've been wondering how much you could have changed during the last eleven years, but you haven't changed... you could still say you were just twenty five..."

"Tell your wife not to try and turn my head again!" Harry grinned at Dennis.

"Oh, I wouldn't try, now, would I?" Mileta smiled and snuggled into her husband's embrace. "I have Dennis, and I wouldn't exchange him for anyone!"

"Good to see that you two are so happy together," Harry said. "What about the family? Good old Viktor? Has he married yet?"

"No," Mileta shook her head. "He's still hopelessly in love with your sister-in-law."

"Oh, what a pity. And Colin?"

"He's fine, working as a coach for an Irish Quidditch team," Dennis replied. "Oh, let me show you a picture." 

"Is she...?" Harry looked at the wizard picture showing a happily giggling little girl. "Is she your daughter?"

"Yes," Mileta replied proudly. "Her name is Edelweiss."

"Awwww. What a perfect choice of name," Harry smiled. "You two were brought together by that Edelweiss, eh?"

"Well, kind of," the young mother replied. "Dennis saved me from the yeti during the first task and after that I slowly realised that he was the one for me. A bit too slowly, though," she added with a sheepish grin. "I hope you are no more angry with me for trying to seduce you all the time."

"Oh, no! Of course not…" Harry laughed, picking up his glass of champagne again and emptying it at one gulp. "Brrr… how can champagne be this sweet?" he shuddered, his glance falling on the entrance of the tent. He thought his eyes were playing a trick on him. "Impossible!" he mumbled, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and put them back again. *Too much champagne... sure... that must be it.* he thought, staring at the figures standing at the 'door': a very fat and a very slim one – a man and a woman – two people whom he least expected ever seeing at Hogwarts...

Vernon and Petunia Dursley.

**A/N:** in case you don't remember the Deminuo spell from TGSaWCS (where Harry kept using it), it's Latin and means something like 'to make something flaccid', if you get what I mean ;)

The author has a similar ceiling to Daniel's – my bedroom ceiling in our weekend house has a 'star chart' of fluorescent stars and it glows for about 15 minutes after I switch off the lights. It's fun, really. And beautiful. Even when it rains outside and the sky is clouded, I still have stars in my room :)

For reference on clabberts, see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

_Dilemi Ann_: yes, HP is better in Hungarian than in English. JKR wrote it wonderfully, but the translation is even better. Don't believe it if you don't want to, you don't seem to believe anything I say, anyway. You said I was criticising Rowling often. I can't remember when I did so. I tend to criticise the movies, but not the books. Rowling is kind of a goddess to me and everything she writes is fabulous. About me being stuck-up: if you knew me, you'd know that I belong to the very few people who would never in their lives become stuck-up. You said I thought I was better than Rowling. What gives you that idea? I'm totally aware that I'm not the hundredth of what she is. About the story that got 1000 reviews for four chapters… it might be either wonderful or a slashfic (slashfics tend to be more popular than het fics, I don't understand why). But you made me very curious, so I'd like to read it. Could you please tell me its author and title? Thanks. Just one more thing about the number of reviews: I never wanted to beat anyone with reviews, and I don't think that the number of reviews necessarily shows the quality of a fic. I have read dozens of brilliant stories (really brilliant ones, that I thought were way better than mines) that had very few reviews. So everything you assumed about me and the number of reviews is wrong. Sorry. Finally, if you dislike my fics so much, then please, stop reading – read only the canon, because, as you said (and I agreed), Rowling is a thousand times better.

_Bucky:_ perhaps I could… won't disappoint you, I promise.

_Lady Schezar_: sorry, but Slytherin couldn't win this time. First I wanted Gryffindor to win and make Slytherin miserable (to add to Daniel's misery), but then I thought that Gryffindor had won way too many matches in the first three canon books. Then I wanted Slytherin to win, but I decided against it. A draw seemed to be the right choice. 

_Kit Cloudkicker_: I mentioned in chapter two that Circe was Amos Diggory's daughter – born four years after Cedric's death.

_Tyleet_: no, sorry, no more kids for R/Hr. But lots of Draco/Gabrielle coming soon. Yes, I took the Bill/Fleur idea from book four when she was looking at him :)

_gillian:_ Harry is 31, Ginny is 30.

_reviewer:_ no, I'm not planning to become a real author. Not yet, anyway. I don't teach English or anything else, and no, I'm no journalist (though in RPGs I love playing Rita Skeeter :) The baby has something to do with the plot, but surely not the way you'd think (hmmm… that was obscure enough, huh? ;)

_Desiree_: the first cliffie in chapter 10? Hm… much worse cliffies are coming soon, so be prepared.

_Molto Bella_: yeah, stupid Gryffindor! :)) I love Slytherin more. In fact some friends of mine decided to make the first Hungarian Slytherin-supporter website, and I'll be helping them :)

_Black Ice_: sorry, but I didn't want to kick anyone out of any teams. 

_seashell:_ well, Olivia Ollivander is either Ollivander's granddaughter, or great-granddaughter. Dunno, decide it yourself :) Aha, so Orlando Bloom is Legolas! Well, of course I've seen the first LotR movie, and I found him really hot, I just didn't know the name of the actor who played him. Of the whole LotR cast I only know the names of Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen and Liv Tyler (and now Orlando Bloom), that's all.

_goldenstar555_: I'm glad you found it intriguing.

_RedHot911_: thanks :)

_C-chan_: I'll have to re-read the third Hitchhiker's book, then. Aragorn/Sam? What a weird pairing! But the Ron/Draco is also weird! :) 

_SiriDragon_: I'm happy you liked the Quidditch match, I was kind of afraid that it'd suck – I'm not good at writing action-scenes, you know.

_Katrina_: so, you think you know Lily? *enigmatic smile* you'll see that you don't. Thanks for the good-luck wish! (better late than never, right? :))

_Aimee:_ glad you liked Myrtle, she's so much fun, I think she belongs to the most interesting characters or Rowling's!

_Houou_: Obnoxious Myrtle? I don't think she's obnoxious… I like her. But what could you expect from someone who likes idiots like Lockhart? Dunno why, but I always tend to love the idiotic characters or the total weirdos.

_Myr Halcyon_: I agree, the match in the CoS movie wasn't that good, I liked the one in the first film much better. Harry and Draco chasing the Snitch outside in that… don't know what to call that part of the Quidditch stadium, was a bit… dunno. I wasn't taken with it. I only liked one thing in that part: that the Bludger almost ran into Colin when he was taking photos.

_Princess Ginny:_ I understand you, I don't like going to school either. But I like exams even less.

_Altec_: about 11-year-olds being too young to have full figures: I had a classmate in the primary school who had large tits at the age of 11 (and I remember I envied her :). About 12-year old having nocturnal emissions – years ago I heard in the news that in America an 11-year-old boy got a 15-year old girl pregnant. There was quite a scandal, and the girl said that she had no idea that the boy was only 11, she thought him to be 14. This made me think that the boy must have had nocturnal emissions in order to be 'able' to get her pregnant, don't you think? And Dan's one year older than this boy, so he could be a 'man' already. It's a bit early, that's true, but the possibility cannot be closed out. And of course I needed to make him become a 'man' for plot reasons. About Snape and Bradley – I'm not saying no… but I'm not saying yes either ;) 

_ruffled owl_: I'd also like to read HP in other languages, but first I'll have to learn more languages :)

_Lana Riddle:_ well, you have your answer about the Snitch, don't you? :)

_2Coolio_: did you write long stories?

_Tap Dancing Widow_: I'm glad you finally made it to my present fic! And thank you very much for all those reviews for the previous two! Exactly, the next child does have something to do with the nasty things happening to Harry. Yes, of course I named Rupert after Grint! :))

_Laina_: Snape and Bradley: yes and no. It's Gabrielle, not Gabbriel :)

_Wood's secret lover_: the caretaker blowing up the Snitch? That's gross! He's a Muggle, he cannot do magic! Swapping identities? Whew, you have some weird ideas, but no, nothing like that happens. I answered your review for chapter 9 in an email the same day I uploaded chapter 10. Did you get that mail?

_Inken_: the triplets won't necessarily do anything to Draco, Harry just played with the thought. But don't worry, you'll see enough funny things happening between the neighbours!

_Alexander Phoenix_: yellow houses can be nice, if they are painted a very pale yellow. The 'nearly R rated stuff' comes up once in a while, but not often, so not to worry. 90% of the fic is a simple PG-13.

_Lupin's Angel_: thanks for the link, it's interesting. I haven't heard of this Michael Gambon, too.

_Justin:_ no, I'm not planning a sequel for this one, but I might write other stories that have nothing to do with this series. I have written one chapter of a totally different H/G fic but didn't continue because I had to concentrate on this one. Perhaps I'll continue it after I'm done with my exams.

_Nefertiri:_ well, the twins regretted it, didn't they? Snape and Bradley: yes and no. 

_Bamboo Anime:_ Tamora Pierce sounds cool, I might read it if it comes out here in Hungary. MT. Dew is the same as Mountain Dew? Silly me, I didn't realise! Of course I know Mountain Dew, I tasted it once but didn't like it. Thanks for the scarf-link! :) Ahhh, thanks Yoghurt, I love the Schwartz! :)) And Lord Helmet rulez! 

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: no, Gilda doesn't sneak into the match, because the boys will be called to duel by their names, and the jury would realise that Gilda's name isn't on their list (and I think she isn't the type to knock a boy unconscious to play instead of him, using his name.)

_Ice Kitten_: where does your dad live? I hope you had a great time with him.

_FireBolt9000:_ sorry, but they might. Are you rooting for Liu?

_TaMaraR:_ glad you think so :)

_Rab:_ Lucius and Narcissa still live in a private mansion, but since Draco has his bank in Hogsmeade, so he bought a house in Hogsmeade. Of course he could apparate twice every day, but it's simpler and more convenient without apparating.

_VegaKeep_: hey, interesting name you've got there ;) Don't worry, you'll get a lot of Draco/Gabie later.

_jasper_: glad that I could make you laugh :))

_apple-pie_: you said that chapter 10 was the best so far? Well, it's no nearly as good as the rest :) 

_Autumn Dreams:_ I'm glad that I could make you laugh :)) I hoped that people would find Daniel's predicament hilarious, but it seems that YOU found it the most hilarious :)

_Katie Bell_: I don't think that chapter 10 was 'definitely R-rated' as you said. It was a strong PG-13, bordering on R. Just look around on ffnet, and you'll see dozens of R-rated fics that are rather NC-17. The Daniel's adolescence part was very far from those "R-rated" things. Btw, are you the same Katie Bell who niffled my fics on fictionalley? If yes, than thanks a lot! A friend told me that my fics got recommended on that site and I just had to read it – and the recommending person (you?) wrote things that made me blush :) I was also pleasantly surprised to see that _webba_ commented that she agreed with _Katie Bell_ :)

_Kamatazi Yumi_: you wrote: "suddenly has a mental image of the various Hogwarts people in a deodorant commercial" – I was rotfl when I read this! :))

_star queen:_ yes, I have a half-brother, but he doesn't live with me, I see him once in every two weeks, so I didn't copy his 'adolescence' to describe Dan's. In fact I feared that the whole Dan-having-a-first-hard-on part would suck because I knew nothing about male adolescence… I made it up pretty much, hoping that it wouldn't be too silly.

_amazing typo_: thanks for standing up to the flamer, it made me happy :) My friends told me to ignore people like this who take pleasure in offending others by telling evil lies… and they're right. My friends know what kind of person I am and that I'd never in my life be conceited. So, the flamers can say whatever they want, as long as I know that they're wrong, they cannot affect me! :D

_Keila:_ have I really managed to make the match as interesting in the books? Wow, never thought, never even hoped I could. Your comment made me very happy!

_heavenly182angel_: well, Kevin didn't get the Snitch, since it exploded. I didn't want either Gryffindor or Slytherin win. I tried to be like Harry: impartial :))

_CandyGurl83_: yes, Lily's sweet, isn't she? She wouldn't hurt her lil brother, no matter what.

_Any last requests_: you wrote: "I do feel sorry for the house elves having to constantly be cleaning Dan's sheets" – oh, you have no idea how much I laughed when I read this!!! If I imagine the elves doing that… hilarious. But Dan surely will learn some cleaning charm – and he already knows Deminuo ;)

_HP Blone Crazy Chick_: I hate algebra, too. What is ipc? And what exactly is a Church retreat? Does it mean that you go off to some place where you can be alone and pray? My dad sometimes goes off to do that, but what you mentioned might be something totally different. Yes, I'm sure that my exams are worse than yours :(

_PepsiAngel:_ yes, there'll be a lot about Draco and Gabrielle, and you don't have to wait long for it. About Dan and Gilda being a bad couple… why? Are you rooting for Liu Chang? Glad you liked Myrtle :)

_rebkos:_ thanks a lot :D

_Novalee_ and _Josh_: no, I don't have a schedule for updating. With my previous two fics I had, but not with this one, sorry. However, you can expect one chapter a week.

_romina:_ give me your email address and I'll send you a list of worth-of-reading fanfics :) (you might already have written me your address, but I can't find it anywhere, silly me). I've collected a very nice, long list for you.

_Harrysgirl:_ welcome back, I'm happy to see you again! :)) Glad you found Daniel's predicament funny.

_Belle_: your friends also like my fics? Glad to hear! Has any of them reviewed so far? If yes, under what name? I'm curious…

_Zenon Lee_: you asked how Dan's erection would affect his future life. You have no idea… but it'll have a HUGE effect on his life (and NOT the way you'd think, it has nothing to do with sex). You'll find out in chapter 13.

_LilGinny_: what kinds of stores do we have here in Hungary? Well, we have Tesco, for example. And lots of huge shopping centres that even have waterfalls in them :) You said Hallmark sold cards and merchandise of all kinds. Well, we also have similar shops, they're called Happy Box shops. And of course we have all the famous trademark shops like Adidas, Nike, Benetton, etc.

_megamick_: hi! Imagine, when I read your review, I thought that your name was very familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. Then I checked back and you turned out to have written one single review for the 9th chapter of the first story in November 2001 – more than a year ago. So I guess I have a _very good memory_ to find your name familiar after that! :)) Glad you liked Dan's early development.

_candycaneOgram_: both Harry and Daniel will have to face nasty things, but Harry will suffer the most. Poor dear Harry, I'm always torturing him. No, Astronomy won't be important because of the centaurs, but because of something else. And yes, you'll see the centaurs again, right in the next chapter.

_Toby Haine_: I was glad when I saw that you reviewed at last, I thought you had forgotten about this fic :) Can't wait for the end of your play.

_PrincezzShortie_: well, I explained everything in connection with the Snitch, didn't I? :))

_Chakotaya/Lady Nagini_: does your name have anything to do with the Star Trek Voyager Chatkotay? Just wondering… (I love Voyager!) Abortion spell? No, it wasn't a spell, it was a potion, mentioned in Snape's first class. And why don't H and G use it? Well… why would they? They want this baby. They didn't plan it, but they still want it.

_X-Tow-Naga_: good luck with your exams! And yes, you are right, the Force should be there in everyone.

_Jade Tsukinomoto_: I understand what you mean, I also save the chapters of the fics I want to read and read them offline, because spending much time online is quite expensive here in Hungary. Is it expensive in Brazil as well? Glad you like my chapter titles, I always try to make them sound funny or interesting. And thanks for the May the Force be with you in Portuguese! :D 

_Punky Poet_: you couldn't tell your family what you were laughing at, eh? Hm… I kind of understand if I imagine you saying: "er, you know mum… the character in this story has um… just had a… er…" ;)

_Missy_: glad you found it hilarious :)

_Red Ridding Hood_: good luck with your test. Yes, there'll be some Norbert/Draco scenes. I heard about Gary Oldman playing Sirius and I'm not happy. I have to think of him in Air Force One (he played a Russian terrorist in it) and The Fifth Element (he played another sadist there). So I can only imagine him being evil, I don't want him to be Sirius.

_Philip_: thank you very much, glad you like my fics. Do they sound believable? That makes me really happy! :)

_Sky_: *grins* glad you found it hilarious. Hopefully you'll find the Vernon/Petunia at Hogwarts parts also hilarious.


	12. Riddles

A/N: we get HP and the Order of the Phoenix in 150 days! (just counted them :) I'll try and upload this fic before it comes out. If ffnet doesn't have a month-long breakdown again, I'll surely manage it.

This chapter is dedicated to _jennaration_, who has birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday!

I've seen LotR 2 at last. I think it was better than the first, but it still seemed a bit boring to me (at last the first half). The second half with the siege was great, though. Legolas surfing/snowboarding down the steps was hilarious. And I just loved that scene in which the dam broke through, it looked so cool! But all in all, the movie should have been at least half an hour shorter.

I must ask you NOT TO get surprised by _anything_ that happens in this chapter. Just read on, read on…

Chapter 12

**Riddles**

"Uncle Vernon? Aunt Petunia?" Harry stepped to the newcomers who seemed to be utterly perplexed – maybe even they didn't believe that they had come. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I invited them!" David Dursley, clad as Zorro, ran up to his (grand)parents and took them by the hand, pulling them into the tent before they could greet Harry (if they wanted to greet him at all). "I'm so happy you have decided to come, you will have so much fun here!" he said joyfully.

Seeing the expression on the old Dursleys' faces, Harry seriously doubted that they would have fun.

"Are my eyes wrong or are they _really _your uncle and aunt?" Ron stepped to his friend.

"They seem real. And no one would be stupid enough to use Polyjuice just to turn into _them, _so they must be real," Harry shrugged and followed the chipper David and his horrified grandparents into the crowd.

"This should be fun," Ron grinned and joined Harry in the 'Dursley-stalking'. As they passed Hermione (who was dressed up as an owl), her eyes also widened and she excused herself from McGonagall to follow the strange little group.

"See, that is professor Dumbledore over there. You know, the headmaster, he's clad as a house-elf, cute, isn't it?" David carried on. Vernon and Petunia's expressions revealed that they found Albus as non-cute as possible. "And that over there is the band SPEW, they are my favourites, I've been to all their concerts, would you like me to lend you some of their records?" As far as Harry could tell, Vernon and Petunia were downright terrified by the idea of having to listen to SPEW at home. "Oh, and these little comets…" David continued, but was a bit late, because a magic comet swooped down on Petunia.

"HEEEEELP!" she screamed and tried to run away from her attacker, just to run into Harry's arms.

"Um, hello, Aunt Petunia," he tried to smile as non-maliciously as possible, which, in the current situation, was quite a hard task. "I don't know whether you have noticed me, but I have already greeted you."

Uncle Vernon gave a grunt as a sign of recognition, while his wife was still quivering in her nephew's arms.

"I tried to admonish you, granny," David apologised. "Those are not real comets, they're just bewitched to scare the guests. Funny, aren't they?" From Petunia's scowling Harry knew that she found it as non-funny as possible.

"Well, a great surprise for me to see you at Hogwarts," Harry said as his aunt disentangled herself from his embrace. "I thought you hated magic."

"Give me some pick-me-up," Petunia growled, adjusting her elegant cream-coloured costume. "I need something to put me right after this shock."

"Try this, Mrs. Dursley," Ron pushed a glass into her hand, and before Harry could question him what that drink was, Petunia downed it in one gulp.

"That's better," she smoothed her hair – or rather she would have smoothed it, if it had been there. But there were feathers instead.

"Petunia!" Vernon howled as his wife had completely turned into a huge bird with pitch-black feathers.

"Damn, I thought Fred and George had stopped making such silly jokes!" Ron fumed. "I had no idea that they had 'poisoned' the butterbeer with Blackbird Brandy. I swear I didn't know, Mr. Dursley…"

"I don't care whether you knew or not!" Vernon bawled. "I want my wife back!"

"Calm down, uncle, she's going to change back in a minute!" Harry said. "And I'll have a few words to say to my dear brother-in-laws."

Indeed, Petunia turned back into her old Muggle self in a couple of seconds and her first words were: "Get me out of here, Vernon! These are a horde of freaks!"

"I told you we shouldn't have come!" Vernon agreed. "I HATE MAGIC!"

"Now, now, Aunt Petunia, you haven't seen the best yet," Harry said soothingly.

"The worst, you mean," his aunt replied, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Nooooo," Harry grinned. "See that pretty little tent over there? Sybill, an excellent friend of mine, is in there, and believe me, you're in for a treat if you enter that tent."

"Really?" Petunia pursed her lips, reading the text over the tent's entrance. "A fortune-teller?"

"The best you can get," Harry winked. "You surely want to know your future, don't you?"

"No, she doesn't," Vernon cut in. 

"Why not, Vernon?" his wife snapped. 

"Because your nerves are too weak for such things, dear."

"They are not," she replied. "Anyway, what worse could come? I'll definitely go in there!"

"But dear…?" Mr. Dursley called after her as she disappeared into the tent. Her husband followed her in case he had to save her from the freaks the tent was filled with.

"Dad told me they had been like this for ages," David said. "A bit tetchy, you know… always quarrelling with each other… I thought they needed a bit of a change, that's why I invited them."

"But… how did you persuade them to come?" Harry seemed curious. "As far as I knew, there was no force on Earth that could have talked those two into coming to Hogwarts."

"True," the boy grinned, "but I did not only persuade them… I blackmailed them."

"Hah, the little tyke!" Ron said admiringly. "How did you do it?"

"I told them that I'd never ever visit them in the future if they didn't come and visit me now. They got terrified and came. They love me too much to say no," Davie replied, looking rather proud of himself. Harry assumed that if Petunia and Vernon loved David as much as Dudley, then it wasn't so surprising at all that they had let Dave blackmail them into coming.

"And how did they find the way here?" Ron knitted his eyebrows.

"Took the Hogwarts Express, I presume," Harry shrugged. "Then just followed the crowd from Hogsmeade to the castle."

"I wonder whether your uncle had bought some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from the trolley-witch," Ron grinned. "I'd like to see him tasting a vomit flavoured one."

Harry and David laughed, but Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Harry, you are evil, you know that?" she said. "Sending her to Trelawney!"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Herm," he smirked. "You have no idea how many days of my life have been spoiled by my dear aunt… now let me return a weenie little part of it…"

* * * * *

"Attention, please, attention!" Albus Dumbledore silenced the crowd a few minutes before ten o' clock. "Soon I am going to announce the winners of the costume contest. The pupil wearing the best costume is going to be awarded 100 points to his or her house and books from Flourish and Blott's in the value of fifty galleons. The second is going to get 40 points and a cheque of 20 galleons that he or she can spend in Gladrags, and the third is going to get 20 points and a huge tart of his choice from Honeydukes that is going to be re-opened in a week. Let me thank the gallant donors in the name of the school – Mr. McGregor, the owner of Flourish and Blotts, Miss Ingalls, owner of Gladrags, and Mrs. Potter, owner of Honeydukes. And now…" he sent the crowd a wide grin, "let us see the magical counting-machine!"

He pointed at a machine looking like a small version of a Muggle scoreboard, showing the votes of the Hogwarts staff.

"Um… one vote is missing," the headmaster said. "Professor Snape's. Where is he at all?"

That was when Harry realised that he hadn't seen Snape the whole evening.

"Ahem… here, Albus," came a voice from the entrance. Every single head in the tent turned in that direction, and a couple of gasps could be heard. 

"I don't believe it!" Harry gaped. "Are my eyes deceiving me, or is he _really wearing Neville's grandma's outfit?"_

Ron wasn't in the state to answer, because he was clutching at his stomach that hurt from the silent laughter.

"Yes, Harry, he is," Hermione replied, casting a sideways glance at Neville, who – along with his parents – was gazing at Snape with his mouth agape.

The buzzing of a fly could have been heard in the silence of the tent as Severus walked up to the headmaster in green robes and a magnificent hat with a vulture. "I hope I'm not too late. My costume needed a bit of… fixing," he added, a slight pinkish shade appearing on his yellowish cheeks.

The crowd burst into laughter and – inexplicably to Snape – started to clap. The laughter and applause was the loudest among those guests who had once been in one class with Neville and happened to attend that memorable 'boggart in the wardrobe' Defence Against the Dark Arts class eighteen years earlier.

"Well, I guess it's too late for me to vote, given that I haven't seen any of the children's costumes, so will you excuse me, Albus? I need a drink," said Severus and disappeared into the crowd.

The cheering only died away when the headmaster flicked his wand, sending up red sparks.

"Well, then, we must put up with one vote less," he said. "And the votes say…" he flicked his wand again, turning on the machine that showed the numbers the teachers voted for. "As I see the third place is Mr. Peter Parker of Ravenclaw for his Spiderman outfit. He received two votes from the staff-members. The second place belongs to Miss Julie Dumbledore of Hufflepuff, for her golden galleon costume… three votes. And the winner of the hundred house points is… Mr. Rowan Atkinson of Hufflepuff for his wonderful Halloween pumpkin costume… he got five votes. The winners please come forward!"

"Of course she won a price, she's the headmaster's grand-niece!" Iago Rosier of Slytherin hissed to his friend, Alan Travers, who nodded, both of them following Julie Dumbedore with their eyes.

"In my opinion she really deserved to get an award – I liked her costume very much!" Daniel Potter said and Liu Chang nodded her agreement. "Right, Norbert?" he turned around to see where his friend was, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Have you seen him, guys?"

"I saw him leaving the tent about fifteen minutes ago," Iago replied.

"He said he wanted to talk to his brother…" Dan mused. "I bet he even missed Snape's great entry… he'll regret it as long as he lives!"

"Very possibly!" Liu chuckled.

"Do you think it was arranged? I mean to make Julie Dumbledore get second place?" Harry frowned, turning to Hermione.

"I don't think so," she replied. "Albus wouldn't do such a thing, you know that. Not even Aberforth would ask the other teachers to vote for his great-granddaughter. I voted for her of my own free will, because I really loved her costume. Whom did you vote for?"

"For a second-year Ravenclaw girl who was dressed up as a Hungarian Horntail," he replied, casting a side-glance at McGonagall. The Transfiguration professor seemed to be eyeing the little 'golden galleon' in a rather friendly way – at least Harry was surprised that she could look at Julie in another way than scowling. That was a good sign – maybe she'd grow to like her in the end. "I've just realised… Julie and Rowan Atkinson are both Hufflepuffs. That means that Hufflepuff got 140 points," he said. "Hm… is it only wishful thinking, or could it be possible that, for a change, Hufflepuff will win the house cup? They haven't received it for centuries. They'd really deserve it."

"Oh, not rooting for ickle Gryffindor, Potter?" came Draco Malfoy's drawling voice from behind.

"As a teacher, I'm impartial, Malfoy," Harry replied. "I just said what I believed in: that Hufflepuff deserved to get the cup at last."

"Sure, Saint Potter playing the little impartial teacher," Draco said in a miffed voice and left.

"What's up with him again?" Harry frowned.

"I saw him quarrelling with his brother," Hermione replied. "So no wonder that his mood is so bad."

"Before you go back to dancing and having fun, we have one more task to do," Albus said. "Our three winners are going to select the best costume from the teachers' outfits, and the winner is going to get a symbolic award – ten free glasses of butterbeer from the charming Madame Rosmerta," he glanced at the owner of the_ Three Broomsticks_, who was holding hands with Sirius. "We give our winners one minute to discuss their decision."

Julie, Rowan and Peter put their heads together, giggling. Harry had a good idea whom they were going to choose for winner.

"Oh, yes, we have it," Dumbledore grinned after the three kids whispered their votes into his ear. "I am pleased to announce that the winner is Professor Snape!"

Everyone started to cheer (with the exception of the clearly hurt Gilderoy Lockhart – he had been sure he'd win), searching for Severus in the crowd, but he had simply disappeared.

"As I see he isn't here anymore… how pity," Albus pouted. "He will of course still get the ten glasses of butterbeer when he visits the_ Three Broomsticks. Well, let the party continue!"_

The SPEW started to play again as Petunia Dursley burst out of 'Sybill's nook', shouting 'We are leaving, Vernon! I'm fed up with all this! First that stupid comet that wanted to kill me, then that drink that turned me into a bird, and now this idiot belly-dancer! Do you have any idea what she predicted to me? No? She said that as soon as I exited the tent, I'd be run over by an elephant-sized spider, but not to worry, because I will only break two arms and a leg and will have amnesia for a year, but that's not that bad at all!'

"A bit irritated, isn't she?" Stella Sinistra smiled at her husband as Petunia left the tent.

"Muggles, I presume," Remus smiled back at her, taking a huge gulp of champagne. "I'll go and have a look at Jamie, all right? I'll be back soon."

"All right," Stella nodded. They weren't too pleased that they had had to leave their son at the castle, but no children under eleven were allowed to attend the party, and a rule was a rule… Mr. Bradley had promised to take care of the boy for the duration of the ball.

"Are you all right, sweetie?" Anck-sun-Amun Lockhart walked up to her daughter, Gilda. "You look so pale."

"I feel funny, mum," the girl replied. "Light-headed… and I don't remember… er, what's the time?"

"Half past ten. Why?"

"Because… I don't remember things…" Gilda massaged her temples as though she were having a bad headache. "The last thing I remember is that I left Daniel with Liu Chang to let them bill and coo in peace and wanted to find dad… but that was ten minutes to ten… and I don't know what happened since then."

"Honey…" her mother gave her a worried look. "It is possible that someone has wiped your memories."

"But why would anyone do that, mum?"

"I don't know," Sunny shook her head. "But whoever they were, they didn't want you to remember seeing or doing something… and unfortunately we are unlikely to find the culprit in this crowd… we'll talk to Dumbledore and your grandfather, okay? Come with me."

Gilda nodded and followed her mother to the headmaster.

* * * * *

Harry decided to follow the freaking Petunia out of the tent, in case she did something stupid in her current state. Maybe it had really been cruel of him to expose her to Sybill… he felt a bit guilty.

"Wait, Aunt Petunia!" he yelled, running after the Dursleys. Petunia was practically hyperventilating, but still kept running, and Vernon could barely keep up with her. They had already passed by the magic fountain and were running at the shore of the lake, heading towards the gate with the winged warthogs, when suddenly Snape appeared from the forest's direction, running as fast as he could.

Harry had almost reached his aunt when he spotted Snape and also the reason why he was running: five acromantulas were chasing him.

"Potter! Help!" he shouted.

"Uncle, aunt, run behind a tree!" Harry ordered the Muggles. It was only then that the irritated Petunia looked up and let out an ear-splitting scream. She was rooted to the spot in fright and couldn't move, but luckily Vernon managed to screw up all his courage and jerked her behind a huge oak.

Seeing that he had got help, Snape stopped running and turned around to face the gigantic spiders. "Stun them at the count of three! One, two, three!" he and Harry both shouted _Stupefy!_ at the spiders, but that must have felt nothing but a tickle for the beasts. They kept coming forward. Harry tried both _Impedimenta_ and _Stupefy_ on a nearby specimen, and managed to disable it, but as it fell, it happened to tumble right upon Severus.

"Snape!" Harry shouted, but the other professor didn't respond – maybe he was dead already, but surely unconscious.

Suddenly Remus appeared from behind. The wizard had only wanted to walk up to the castle to check up on his son, but saw what was happening outside and joined Harry in the fight as soon as he could. "Let's try and stun them!"

"That's a stupid idea! I've already tried with Snape, it didn't work!" Harry yelled angrily, sending spark-showers at the animals, trying to scare them away. No such luck.

"Do you think that sparks would scare four damn big spiders away? Are you out of your mind?" Lupin shouted and aimed his wand at two of the spiders, sending spurts of flames towards them. The spiders seemed to be afraid of fire and retreated a bit. "See, this is how it is done!"

"Really?" Harry asked sarcastically. "If you're so clever, then tell me why they are advancing on us again!"

"Shut up and do something sensible, if you can, dunderhead!"

"Dunderhead? You have no idea how to deal with these monsters, you senile old codger!"

"Senile? Old codger?" Lupin hissed. "How dare you question my expertise, you green little professor's assistant?"

"Assistant?" Harry shouted, sending a stunner at a nearby spider, only managing to make it stay put for ten seconds, "I'm a fully fledged wizard, if you didn't know!"

"Fully fledged my ass, you stuck-up, selfish, hero-wannabe!" Remus growled, pointing at the dangling branch of the tree, making it detach itself from the trunk and swoop down on one of the spiders. "See, you would never have had this idea, Scarhead!"

"Scarhead? Hey, that was Malfoy's line!" Harry yelled. "If you can't even make up an original insult, why open your big mouth at all?" suddenly he felt a jerk – one of the three remaining spiders had picked him up.

"What exactly did you say?" Lupin smirked maliciously, only to be knocked over by another spider. The wand fell out of his hand.

"Holy Snitch!" Daniel gasped. He had only left the tent to have a look at his great-aunt freaking, but he wasn't at all prepared for the sight that greeted him: his father madly trying to get free from an acromantula's grip and professor Lupin lying on the grass, another spider looming menacingly over him.

In the next instant, Dan felt a surge of energy leaving his body and the spider holding Harry suddenly dropped him, the one wanting to kill Remus stopped and all the three spiders that hadn't been disabled before, froze – and not only in the way they would have frozen if they had been stunned. They had actually been frozen in ice, looking like three ugly ice-sculptures.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall, with flipping braids, and Aberforth in his fluffy yeti costume ran up to the disabled spiders. They had just wanted to walk a bit in the moonlight and reminisce over their honeymoon when they saw the huge beasts, and one second later the huge ice statues. "Potter?"

"My dad and Professor Lupin have been attacked," Daniel replied, quivering. "And Professor Snape's there, too!" he pointed at a figure half-buried under an acromantula.

Minerva and Aberforth immediately flicked their wands and lifted the animal off the professor.

"He's alive," Minerva said, touching the vein throbbing on Severus' neck. "But he needs Madame Pomfrey."

"Oh, that pretty hat got destroyed!" Aberforth looked at the Neville's grandma's vulture hat lying torn on the ground, then he crouched down to Harry. "Hey, you all right, kid?"

"I'm fine…" Harry mumbled, massaging his ankle that got sprained as he fell.

"Dad!" Daniel ran into his arms and hugged his father tight. "I was so afraid that you'd die!"

Harry patted his son's head, wondering what had stopped him from dying.

"Your irresponsibility could have killed us all!" Remus growled at him, hoisting himself up to his elbows.

"_My irresponsibility?" Harry snapped. "You were more occupied with insulting me than with fighting these beasts!"_

Aberforth and McGonagall exchanged worried glanced. This was _not the way Harry and Remus used to behave. On the contrary – they had always been great friends…_

"A…are they… dead?" Vernon Dursley's quavering voice spoke up behind the oak tree.

"Yeah, you may come out of hiding, they won't harm anyone… I guess," Harry said, sizing up the frozen beasts, not believing his eyes. "Was it you, Professor McGonagall? Or you, Aberforth?"

"What?" Minerva asked.

"Did you freeze them?" Harry pointed at the spiders.

"No," Aberforth shook his head while conjuring up a stretcher and hoisting Snape's body onto it. "We exited the tent at the very second one of the spiders wanted to tread on Remus… then, in the next instant, they were frozen. No idea how it happened."

"Have you seen anything, Potter?" Minerva turned to Daniel. "A wizard or someone who disabled these beasts?"

"No, Professor," the boy replied.

"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked. She had the impression that Daniel wasn't telling the truth. The boy had got on her wrong side weeks earlier when he had caused Gryffindor to lose three hundred points – and although Minerva knew that his intentions had been good, she still couldn't help feeling resentment towards the boy. Though it had happened twenty years earlier that she had caught Harry Potter flying for Neville's Remembrall, she still perfectly remembered Harry's guilty expression after she had told him to follow her into the castle. Now Daniel was wearing the same expression of guilt… this boy knew something but refused to tell. Minerva made a mental note to talk to Albus about young Potter's unusual behaviour.

"All right, then," she spoke up finally. "Let us go into the infirmary as soon as possible. Severus seems to be in a rather bad shape and you two also have some injuries," she told Harry and Lupin. Those two nodded, but carefully avoided each other's stare. "And I guess that your Muggle relatives could do with some sedatives, too."

"May I go back to the party?" Daniel asked.

"Of course. Tell your mum what happened and that she can find me in the hospital wing," his father replied and stepped to the Dursleys. "Come, Aunt Petunia. I'll take you to the school nurse."

"No, you won't!" Vernon growled at him, gathering his trembling wife into a firm embrace, as if trying to protect her from their lunatic nephew. "I'm taking her back to Privet Drive and phone Dr. Smith…"

"Uncle," Harry heaved a sigh. "Listen to me. You cannot take her anywhere in her current condition. She has just got over a nasty shock, she needs to rest a bit. You too. Madame Pomfrey is a trustworthy elderly lady and I can give you my word that she won't do anything dangerous to Aunt Petunia. She has saved my limbs more times than I can remember. Trust me," with that he gently pulled his aunt out of Vernon's arms and began steering her up to the castle. Vernon, given that he could do nothing else, followed them.

* * * * *

"You won't believe what happened just five minutes ago!" Daniel told Gilda. "Where's Norbert?"

"Dunno. Still hasn't turned up," she shrugged. "So, what happened?"

"Five giant spiders attacked dad, Snape and Lupin!"

"Oh… and did anyone die?" she asked anxiously.

"No, but Snape might. He looked quite crushed… a spider fell onto him, a wonder that he is still alive! The spiders nearly killed dad and Lupin, too."

"And how did they survive?"

"Well…" Dan looked down at his shoes. "I guess I did it."

"You? What?"

"I imagined that the spiders froze and so they did," he whispered.

"Wow… so you do have mystical powers, then!" she said admiringly.

"Seems so… but please, don't tell anyone, Gilda!"

"My lips are sealed," she promised. "You have shared a secret with me, so I'm also sharing one with you: someone has wiped my memories here at the ball."

"What?" Dan gaped. "Who? Why? When?"

"I have no idea who it was… but I lost half an hour of my life. So weird… the last thing I remember was leaving you to dally with Miss Geisha…"

"I wasn't dallying with Liu!" Dan grunted.

"Well, anyway, I left you to look for dad and then I don't remember the next half hour of my life… I even missed the awarding ceremony! I don't even know who won! SPEW was already playing after the awarding when I suddenly 'woke up'. I mean… it was like waking up from a deep slumber… my mind cleared and I realised that I had no memories of the past thirty minutes. Only mum, grandpa and the headmaster know about it, and now you. Keep the secret, please."

"I will. But it's still creepy," Dan replied.

After having placed the invalids under Madame Pomfrey's care, Minerva and Aberforth returned to the spiders to see that a little group of people had gathered around them. The headmaster was also eyeing their rigid bodies, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Five acromantulas… what on Earth were they doing out of the Forbidden Forest tonight?"

"No idea, Albus, but they attacked Severus Snape," McGonagall said, calling Dumbledore aside so that the curious guests wouldn't hear. "Harry Potter and Remus Lupin tried to help him but they also got injured. Had these beasts not been frozen somehow, all three of them would probably be dead. Not to mention that Potter and Lupin were behaving rather strangely… as though they had been bewitched or something."

"Bewitched, Minerva?" Albus raised an eyebrow. "A series of strange things seems to have happened tonight – this attack, then there was another inexplicable case: Gilda Lockhart has been memory charmed."

"What?" McGonagall gasped. "But who did that?"

"This is something we cannot even guess," the headmaster shook his head. "Mysteries upon mysteries… how did these acromantulas freeze? Do you have any idea? As far as I know, only the most powerful wizards could have done this with the strongest freezing charms…"

"I don't know how it happened, Albus," Minerva said. "But maybe Daniel Potter does."

"Daniel Potter?"

"Yes. He was closer to his father and Lupin when the spiders got disarmed. He might have seen something that Aby and I didn't…"

"Minnie dear, the boy said he didn't see anything," Aberforth put an arm around his wife.

"I have a reason to believe that he was lying," Minerva said. "You should question him, Albus."

"I will," the headmaster nodded. "But not now. As I see, we have visitors," he pointed at two figures approaching from the Forbidden Forest. Two centaurs.

"Oh, hello, Ronan! Firenze!" Aberforth greeted them. "Nice to see you!"

Ronan waved and galloped to Albus. "The forest is in total chaos, headmaster."

"I suspected something like that," Albus nodded. "Five acromantulas have left the forest and attacked a teacher. Can you explain it?"

"Yes, we suppose we can," Firenze spoke up. "Acromantulas are terribly afraid of basilisks. And there happened to be one in the forest."

"A basilisk?" McGonagall clutched at her heart.

"Well, almost," Ronan replied. "It was just a charm… supposedly a dark charm… someone has turned a gnarly trunk into a basilisk with an illusion spell. The trunk had been made to move, slither and hiss… the spiders saw it and scattered in fright… some of them into the very depths of the forest, the others onto the school grounds… they escaped from the 'basilisk'. Not long ago, the magic wore off and the trunk lost its illusion – turned out to be a mere piece of wood."

"But why… why would someone turn a trunk into such a horrid creature?" Aberforth frowned.

"No idea," Firenze shook his head. "Whoever did it, they might have thought that it would be a good Halloween trick."

"Well… thank you for informing us," Albus said. "We are going to transport the spiders back into the forest and melt them out."

"May the stars not be right this time…" Ronan sighed.

"What do you mean?" Minerva frowned. 

"Something terrible is approaching. We have seen bad omens for more than a decade now, and they are just getting worse and worse, signalling that the evil is coming closer and closer… we can just hope that the stars were wrong. Anyway, keep your eyes open. Good night to you all."

The Dumbledore brothers and Minerva watched as the centaurs disappeared into the forest, not even noticing all the curious glances they were getting from the people around.

"I'm going up to the hospital wing," Albus said. "I need to talk to the invalids – especially to Severus. He might know something. I hope he is already in the condition to talk. If not, then we'll wait till morning."

* * * * *

Harry was sitting on a bed in the infirmary, letting Poppy fix a cut on his arm with some liquid that stung like hell. He didn't utter a word, just stared at the floor, trying to comprehend the recent events. Why did those beasts attack Snape? And why was Lupin so rude to him? And why was _he so rude to Lupin? He simply didn't understand. He cast a side-ways glance at Remus who was gazing out of the window. He had also got his Pomfrey-treatment and wanted to leave, but the nurse insisted that they all stayed a bit in the hospital wing. Aunt Petunia had been given a very strong sedative, and since Vernon didn't want to calm down either, Poppy force-fed him a bit of Sleepeazy's Dream Potion that made him drop off immediately. His snoring filled the room – it was the only sound for a while._

The very first person Pomfrey had taken care of was Snape, of course. He had several broken ribs, a sprained leg and even internal injuries. According to the nurse he would have died if he had spent another five minutes under the spider. But he had been lucky.

Suddenly, the door of the infirmary burst open and in came (or rather burst) Bert Bradley, the caretaker. He ran up to Snape's bed and dropped to his knees.

"How's he? Is he alive? Will he survive?" he gabbled.

"Of course he will. Two or three days spent in here and he'll be as good as new," the nurse reassured him.

"Oh… good," Bert smiled and hoisted himself up to sit on Severus' bed. For a second the Potions Master opened his eyes and his glance met Bert's.

"Mr. Bradley…" he whispered.

"How are you?" Bert asked.

"I feel just like Neville Longbottom's cauldron would after a Potions class. Crushed," he croaked weakly, but his mouth tucked into a small smile.

The caretaker chuckled and looked relieved. "You have to heal quickly, Professor, because I don't want to miss the discussion about Hydrogen's isotopes that we planned for Friday."

"I can't wait until then," Severus smiled.

The door opened again and Albus entered. "I see Severus is up and about," he sent Snape and Mr. Bradley a grin. "We need to talk. Do you feel up to it?"

Snape nodded.

"But Headmaster!" Poppy protested. "He has just escaped death and isn't in any condition for discussions!"

"I feel well enough to talk, Madame Pomfrey," Severus said, now in a bit stronger voice than he had used when talking to Mr Bradley.

The nurse rolled her eyes. "And I suppose I should leave now."

"If you would be so kind, Poppy," Albus smiled. 

"I'm leaving, too," the caretaker said and walked out. Harry also stood up from the bed he was sitting on and Remus headed for the door when Dumbledore said "Stay, you two."

Harry sat back down and Lupin walked back to the window. Dumbledore pulled a chair to Severus' bed and took place, then pointed his wand at the door and magically locked it.

"And now, gentlemen, we are going to talk."

"About what?" Remus growled, sending Harry a piercing look that Harry returned in kind.

"First of all about you two," Albus declared. "Minerva said that you were behaving in a rather peculiar way, and as I see, you seem to be… hostile to each other."

For a while neither of them spoke, then finally Harry said: "I don't know what happened down on the grounds, Albus, but as we were fighting the spiders I felt an inexplicable urge to insult Remus."

"I felt the same," the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor added. "And so we did – we called each other things…"

"What have you drunk in the last hour before starting to fight?" Snape asked.

"Just a glass of champagne," Harry shrugged.

"The same," Remus said.

"Didn't your champagne taste a bit funny?" the Potions Master carried on, though he seemed to be making a great effort to talk in his current state. "Wasn't it a bit sweeter than usual?"

"Perhaps it was," Lupin nodded. "Yeah, I guess it was."

"Definitely it was," Harry agreed. "Why?"

"Because that can mean only one thing: that a potion had been spilt into your drinks – an unusually sweet one… and I must believe, given its effect, that it was the Discord potion," Severus said. 

"Discord potion?" Lupin's eyes narrowed. "I never was good at Potions, but I do remember this one – if two people drink it around the same time and meet within an hour, then they become enemies… start to insult each other by saying things that they had thought of the other but would never have uttered under normal circumstances." 

"Profound description. Ten points to Remus' house," Snape smirked ironically.

What? So someone had made them drink something that turned them hostile… but who would do such a thing and why? It couldn't have been Fred and George, could it? The twins were great pranksters and one could expect them to pour Blackbird Brandy into the whisky, but they would never go as far as to deliberately create discord between people, Harry was sure of that. But he was quite sure of something else, too… "That means…" he turned to Remus with knitted eyebrows, "that you have always thought I was green and stuck-up… and _selfish_?"

"Well, not like that, Harry," Lupin replied hastily, "just that you got a bit of a swollen head when you were playing for Puddlemere, you know the way you left the team so that your reputation as ace Seeker wouldn't get spoiled… if that's not self-conceit, then nothing! And leaving your team so suddenly was not only self-conceit, but selfishness as well! You didn't care about your team, only about your damn reputation! Selfish, that's what you are! By the way… did you really think I was a senile old codger?"

"Well… no, just… sometimes you were driving me crazy with being so conservative like the old wizards and… you have changed since you are a normal human again! You have settled down too much and started to stick to everything that provided you a peaceful, secure life! You have become boring, Remus! Hell, yes, that's what I thought and still think!" Harry shouted and jumped up.

"And I did think that you were selfish and still think so!" Lupin banged his fist on a nearby bedside table.

"The Potion still hasn't worn off totally," Severus perceived. "And that's bad because now they _know _that the insults were the other's real opinion of them… they are likely to continue fighting just because of what they have told each other. Damn that Griselda Grindelwald for inventing the Discord Potion."

Seeing that Harry and Remus were about to start a fistfight, Dumbledore stepped between the two of them. "Calm down, you two. You are still affected by the potion."

"Affected or not, he thought I was senile and old and conservative!" Remus spat.

"And he thought I had a big head! He thought I was selfish!" Harry grunted.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. This is not important now," the headmaster stated. "Now that we know the reason for your sudden hostility, we need to move on to another serious subject – the spider-attack. Two centaurs just told me that a basilisk-illusion has chased the spiders out of the forest."

"A basilisk-illusion?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Someone has apparently put an illusion charm on a gnarly trunk and made it move like the king of serpents. I have every reason to believe that this was not just a joke – not just the childish revenge of a turned down trick-or-treater… it was deliberate. Someone deliberately set the acromantulas on the guests and Severus happened to be the first to get in their way. Right, Severus?"

A concerned expression spread on Snape's face. "It was definitely deliberate, Albus. And I have a reason to think that _I_ was the primary target."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Not long after I entered the tent, I felt someone push something into my hand, but by the time I turned around to see who it was, he or she had already disappeared into the crowd. It wasn't hard for them to disappear there, was it? Anyway, the thing pushed into my hand was a short letter. In the pocket of my robes, you'll find it," the headmaster lifted Snape's robes from the adjoining bed and fished a little parchment out of its pocket. It read: _'Your life is in danger. I can help you. Meet me by the three pines at 10:10.' "And well, of course I got curious. I thought it was just a joke, but I wanted to make sure, so I left the tent immediately and headed for the three pine trees near the edge of the forest. The sender of the letter never turned up, but instead came those beasts and wanted to kill me."_

"But… why would anyone want to kill you?" Remus knitted his eyebrows.

"I don't know," Severus shook his head.

"Has anything strange – besides tonight's event – happened to you recently, Severus?" Albus asked. "Anything out of the ordinary?"

The Potions master seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I guess so. My Dark Mark has been hurting recently."

All the three other men gasped. "How is that possible?" Harry was the first to recover his voice. "Voldemort's dead! We saw him die!"

"Right," Lupin said. "He's dead. How can your Mark hurt you then?"

"I don't know," Severus shook his head. "It started hurting some time in September. At first I thought it was just my rheumatics, but then I realised that none of my other limbs hurt, just the lower part of my left arm. I started to use different pain-easing creams on it, but they didn't really help. The dull pain is almost incessant now."

"Show it to me," Albus ordered and Snape pulled up his sleeve. The skull with the serpent in its mouth was as indistinct as ever. It wasn't black, wasn't turning reddish either. It looked like an old tattoo – and still it hurt. How strange… "I must say that I have no idea what is causing your Mark to ache," the headmaster declared finally, then turned to Harry. "Have you also had pains? I mean, has your scar hurt recently?"

"No," the young Charms professor replied. "I have had some kind of dull headache lately, but it seemed that my whole forehead ached, not exactly my scar. I put it down to my nerves… you know my son has been behaving in a rather worrying way lately. First he got into Slytherin," Harry got a nasty look from Snape, "then he started fighting his cousins with whom he had always been friends before… then he decided to play Quidditch just to take revenge… I was concerned about him and I thought that I got a headache because of constantly being nervous. But for the last two or so weeks the pains got less frequent… maybe because Daniel isn't giving me so much worry nowadays. I don't know, Albus."

"All right, that will suffice now. Thank you, Harry," the headmaster said. "Only one more question to you and Remus: do you have any idea how the spiders got frozen?"

"It wasn't me," Harry shrugged. "Was it you, Lupin?"

"No, Potter," Remus said, not even looking at Harry. "May I leave now, Albus? I have to check on my son. Mr. Bradley has taken care of him but given his current condition," he referred to the caretaker's emotional outburst here in the infirmary, "I don't know who is watching over James now."

"Well, go, of course. Good night, Remus," Albus replied.

"I'm also going. Ginny must be worried," Harry said, watching as Lupin unlocked the door and exited.

"Harry?" Dumbledore called after him.

"Yes?"

"Would you be so kind and escort your son up to my office?" seeing Professor Potter's terrified expression, Albus added with a smile: "Don't worry, I'm not going to punish him for anything because I don't think that he has done anything wrong. I would just like to talk to him."

"Of course, Albus," Harry nodded and left, wondering what the headmaster could have wanted from Daniel.

On the corridor, he saw Remus with his son and wife Stella, who was hugging him and muttering 'I'm so happy you're all right. I was so scared when I was told what happened!'

"Harry!" Ginny jumped up from a chair and ran up to him, tears of relief flowing down her cheeks. Normally, she wouldn't have started to cry, but, being pregnant, her hormones were making her become all too moody and easily brought to tears. "Dan told me what happened!" she flung herself into his arms. "Are you all right, Love?"

"Yes, honey, I'm fine," he sighed, looking over her shoulder to steal a glance at Lupin. The two men's eyes met and Remus diverted his stare.

Harry's heart sank. He felt guilty for hurting Remus by calling him those things… still he felt that he had been right – the ex-werewolf had changed a lot, and not to his advantage. He was still kind-hearted and friendly, but he became too comfort-loving. And that Harry found downright boring. Not that he had ever regretted his second wish to rid Lupin of his lycanthropy, still… Anyway, he would never have thought that Remus had such a low opinion of him. _Harry Potter – stuck-up? He just wanted to stop playing Quidditch in his glory not as a superannuated old Seeker whom the papers could write about as _'The Boy Who Almost Fell Off His Broomstick'_… If that was self-conceit, then yes, he _was_ conceited. Still Remus had no right to call him stuck-up! _

Anyway, it wasn't being called stuck-up that riled Harry the most, but Lupin's assumption that he was selfish. He! Selfish! When he had 'wasted' one of his precious wishes on Remus, although he could have wished for his powers back! But no – he wanted to help his friend more than get his powers back, and after this, after all this, Remus dared call him selfish! Well, of course Remus never got to know about the wish and the reason why he had suddenly 'lost' his lycanthropy, because Harry had asked the people who had been present at Durmstrang to keep it a secret, but now Harry felt like shouting into Lupin's face: _'I have made you become a real human again, I have wasted a wish on you, you ungrateful prat! So, whom do you call selfish now?'_ But he held himself back, feeling that it was no more worth telling the truth. It wouldn't change anything between him and his friend. _Friend?_

He reached into his pocket to hand a hanky to Ginny to wipe away her tears, but he found no hanky in there, just a crumpled piece of paper - the parchment from future-telling cookie.

_'You are going to lose something important tonight' it said, and it was right – he had indeed lost something tonight. Remus' friendship._

**A/N:** those who have not read Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them, maybe didn't know that the giant spiders from CoS were called acromantulas. But now you know it :)

_Lady Schezar_: yes, your guess was right – it was David who invited them, of course. And good luck with your exams!

_Bucky:_ don't worry, Dan won't end up with Liu.

_starheart20:_ you're welcome on reviewing your fic :) I hope you'll update it soon. I'm sure that OotP is much longer than this fic. Although this fic is twice as long as TGSiHH, it's still shorter than OotP.

_Katrina_: I'm annoyed at the Changs, too (which is funny, because I wrote them to be annoying:). No, Dan won't end up with Liu. 

_Altec_: don't worry, I won't spoil it :) Harry didn't dress up like a famous muggle, just like a normal one. Now you know what Snape's costume was. Bet you didn't expect this from him :)

_jennaration_: Jamie Lupin will do one important thing, but much later. Good luck with your exams!

_goldenstar555:_ well, you saw how the Dursleys reacted ;)

_Alexander Phoenix_: it seems I managed to surprise you :D 

_Bamboo Anime_: thanks for all your prayers :) Unfortunately I don't know Annie. What is it about?

_Houou:_ soap opera, yeah… I can't help, I've seen way too many soap operas, especially central- and southern-americans :)

_megamick_: yes, Dan is 12 and Liu is 11, but sometimes kids kiss for the first time even earlier. It's rather funny than dangerous at their age.

_Missy_: yes, I play the piano (though I haven't exercised for about a year :) Good luck with your clarinet playing! And also for finding something for your boyfriend for Valentine's day :)

_Princess Ginny_: good luck with your algebra text (if you haven't done it already)

_amazing typo_: *grins* :))

_Lana Riddle_: I will.

_2Coolio_: no, I didn't want to leave out the Dursleys, I've always found them hilarious and never hated them. But again… I love Lockhart while almost everyone else hates him… I'm a weirdo, I know.

_VegaKeep:_ Dudley lost a lot of weight in chapter 2 of TGSaWCS, and Millicent also became slim – as I mentioned in chapter 38 of TGSaWCS.

_King Jasbon_: sorry, you're rooting for the wrong couple.

_Laina:_ about me not biting off the flamer's head… hm… I must admit I felt like doing so, but then she'd just get even nastier. Norbert will prove himself not gay in chapter 15, not chapter 12. No Norbert/Gilda, I promise :)

_apple-pie_: I haven't read a fic in which Vernon and Petunia were in Hogwarts, too. I thought it'd be a funny idea.

_Indigo Ziona_: I think you reviewed chapter 10 as well… glad you liked the last chappie.

_Kamatazi Yumi_: :))))

_Kit Cloudkicker:_ no, Lily isn't the type to knock sense into her house mates. But into someone else… perhaps :)

_Wood's secret lover_: I don't know when OotP will be translated into Hungarian (perhaps it'll come out 2-3 months after the British release), but I'll get it in English as soon as it's out :) I wonder what that important thing is that Dumbledore wants to tell Harry… perhaps the reason why Voldemort had wanted to kill him all along. I'm really curious to know that!

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: last chapter didn't even have that evil a cliffie! There'll be much worse cliffies – really mean, evil, terribly nasty ones… be prepared ;)

_FireBolt9000:_ then perhaps you'll be disappointed. :( But I hope you won't give up reading the fic.

_Nefertiri:_ yeah, I'm also happy about the 21st June release! :))

_Aimee_: well, you got the answers and I hope you liked the winner of the teacher's costume contest ;)

_C-chan_: sorry, but what is EMRYS? I'm ashamed about my ignorance… No, I haven't read the book you mentioned. 100 points to Slytherin for guessing Snape's costume! :D I felt the same about the book five news as you did – wanted to dance and drink something alcoholic to celebrate :)

_Katie Bell_: I'm also over the moon that OotP comes out soon! When I got to know the news, I wrote the days on the calendar, starting from 20th June as 'day 1' so that I'll always know how many days to go until the book's released. 

_ruffled owl_: hope I managed to make you laugh again… enjoy all the laughter this fic provides right now, because soon there'll be tears instead of laughter… I'm not kidding (bad Agi, very bad Agi! – knocking her head into the wall, Dobby-style).

_heavenly182angel_: yes, Dan and Gilda do seem an unlikely couple. Still… who knows? ;) Btw, you said you didn't know how to submit a fic to ffnet. In your next review give me your email-address and I'll send you a 'how to upload on ffnet guide', okay? (and remind me to send it to you)

_PepsiAngel_: yes, more Draco coming soon! You pronounce Liu as 'Leeoo'. Glad you liked Gildy as Quasimodo :D Gilderoy will continue being funny.

_Joyce:_ thank you very much, both for standing up to the flamer and for… for everything else :) It always makes me happy when people say that my English isn't that bad…

_pamela-potter-24_: yes, I do have a life outside fanfic… I wish I could spend more time with reading and writing fics, but college doesn't let me.

_Any last requests_: you live in New Zealand? Oh, I never knew. I wish I could once go to the southern hemisphere to watch the stars from there… and it never occurred to me that the Moon would look upside down there… how weird! But I'd really like to see Crux, Carina, Centaurus, Corona Australis, Vela (not Veela;) and the Phoenix (not Fawkes;)… I remember seeing a Harrison Ford movie in which he and a woman were shipwrecked on an island near Tahiti and the sky was just… wow! And yes, there'll be some Astronomy reference later, in chapter… um… *trying to remember*… 19, I guess. 

_waldomier_: I didn't say that the fifth book was out – it'll be released on 21st June in the USA, Great Britain and Australia (and hopefully I'll manage to get it the same day through a bookshop that orders books from all over the world and is likely to pre-order OotP, too.)

_jasper_: yes, Cho will cause problems for Harry.

_Colibi:_ well, of course it was Davie :)

_seashell:_ glorious? Oh… *Agi blushing* thanks. Yes, I've seen the quotes from OotP, and I'm sure that the thing that Albus wants to tell Harry is about why Voldemort wanted to kill him all along. Can't wait to find out at last! Oh, great, it seems I'm not the only crazy person who is counting the days until book five comes out :))

_AmandaPanda_: no, Harry won't really cheat on Ginny. But Cho will still be trouble.

_X-Tow-Naga:_ Snape – gay? Hm… don't be sure about it. You have a sister, too? I thought you only had a brother. No, I won't write a fic about Kevin and Viv and Val's POV. You're close to the truth about Dan's powers. Very close. What did you mean by telling that Uranus was gaseous? I always knew it was gaseous.

_Punky Poet_: glad that I managed to give you a nice birthday-present! :) What? You do your hair like Snape? I cannot really imagine anyone with hair like his… but you're a girl, aren't you? (sorry if you're a boy, one can never know through Internet). 

_Ash Black_: thanks :) Wet dreams are funny, aren't they? ;) I particularly enjoyed writing Harry having one back in chapter 18 of TGSiHH.

_Tyleet:_ sorry, but I cannot promise you any Bill/Fleur. But H/G and Draco/Gabie galore is promised :)

_Romina_: thanks. Hope you'll like the fics I recommended.

_sikokid:_ yes, the dark stuff is coming soon. Well, it kind of started in this chapter. Sorry for misleading you about the update, when I mailed you I thought I'd be able to update on Monday, but my exam gave me too much to study and I just didn't have time yesterday.

_Wizzabee:_ glad that my fics brighten your day – your review brightened my day :) I cannot tell you whether you're on the right or the wrong track… that would reveal too much. Sorry.

_Red Ridding Hood_: no problem that you review late as long as you review :)

_Black Ice:_ yes, on normal sport teams the members get kicked out for such things, but remember what the Slytherins in the first three books did at Quidditch matches (e.g. knocking Angelina with their clubs and saying they thought she was a Bludger) and they never got kicked out of the teams – at least Rowling never said they were.

_Rab_: yes, Merlin might be overused and I was contemplating whether to make Dan wear some Astronomy-related costume, but then I decided that he should be something simple and not so eye-catching this time.

_candycaneOgram_: thanks for telling the news, but I already knew :) And I'm over the moon!

_Inken_: what did you mean by 'did he tell the truth?' Who and about what? No, Dan and Liu didn't hear Harry and Cho's conversation, because they were too occupied with kissing :)

_sapphire selia_: I'm happy too :) Only 150 days to go!

_LilGinny:_ yes, we also throw money into the waterfalls in the shopping malls.

_Chakotaya/Lady Nagini:_ I'll read your fic as soon as I'm ready with my exams. Could you remind me to do so in about a week? I've only read one Star Trek Voyager fanfic so far, and that was a Star Wars/Voyager crossover. It was wonderful. If you want to read it, it's on www.fanfix.com, the author is Michele and the title is 'As long as we're together' (I think it must be in the Crossover section, but I'm not sure, I haven't been to that site for ages). That fic belongs to the very first SW fics (and the very first fanfics in general) I've ever read, and perhaps that's why it means so much to me. Anyway, Michele is a wonderful author and I've had the pleasure of reading her fics in an SW yahoogroup called Mara_and_Luke as well. Pity that she doesn't publish on ffnet.

_Harrysgirl_: thanks a lot, glad you liked it. Yes, Liu is getting in the way, but she won't always do so. Hopefully :)

_HP Blone Crazy Chick_: I agree, AotC was way too mushy. A friend told me that she decided to stand up and leave the cinema if Anakin and Amidala kissed once more… but somehow she managed to sit it through :) Dan and Gilda? Hm… later. Much later. Lily and Chris Wood? Much, much, much, much, much later :)

_figgiesblazin_: yes, I'm sure that Ginny, Ron and Hermione would also deserve chocolate frog cards, but since Harry is the main character in the HP universe, I only gave him one. So, you thought that in chapter 9 the story was getting sad? Oh my… then I try not to imagine what you'd say after chapter 16… that's a veeeeery sad chapter.

_Sky_: glad you liked it :)

_Toby Haine_: no, the greatest enemy ISN'T becoming a man :)) I hope I'll have book five on 21st June, there's a bookshop in Budapest that pre-orders it, and it'll have plenty of copies by 21st June. They said they had had copies of GoF weeks before the release date, but they weren't allowed to sell them until the release date. 


	13. The Imaginer

**A/N:** I'd like to thank everyone who wrote May the Force be with you! or just thought of me when I was having exams,  it helped a lot! Now I'm ready with my exams, and I feel so happy! I got really good marks, so I'm not only happy, but proud, too :)

Imagine, what a crazy dream I had the other day: in my dream I was watching the Chamber of Secrets, and saw the chamber-scene. But in my dream the chamber looked quite different from the real one: it had several shelves with books in it. Tom Riddle cast a curse at Harry, but it didn't hit Harry, it hit a book on a shelf. The book fell off because of the impact, and Harry caught it. It turned out to be Riddle's diary. Then Tom shouted Avada Kedavra at Harry, but Harry held out the diary and the curse rebounded off the diary, hitting Tom. The impact made Tom's attire change into the clothes of an 18th century man - he looked a lot like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! He pulled a baton out of his pocket and started to conduct. And Harry began to sing the Ode to Joy in French... and that was when I woke up! I was so mad  
that I couldn't listen to the whole Ode of Joy in French sung by Harry and conducted by Voldemort...   
I put the whole newspaper article in italics, but last time I did that with Slytherin's diary ffnet turned most of the text back into normal text. I don't know whether it does that again, but in case it does, it's not my fault. The whole article is supposed to be in italics.

**Chapter 13**

**The Imaginer **

Daniel had no idea what the headmaster wanted from him at such a late hour. It was nearly midnight and he was drowsy, wishing for his four-poster bed with warm and fluffy quilts… but instead he was steered upstairs by his parents. After several minutes of walking, they reached an ugly stone gargoyle, and Harry uttered the password: _'Treacle tart'_. To Dan's surprise the gargoyle jumped aside and a door opened in the wall.

"Go, son. We'll wait for you here," his father said. 

The boy nodded and stepped onto a spiral staircase that was moving upwards like a Muggle escalator. The escalator took him up to a massive oak door with a brass griffin knocker. He was just about to knock when the door opened, as though it had been operated by remote control.

"I've been waiting for you, Daniel," Albus Dumbledore's voice came from inside. "Come in, please, and have a seat."

Young Potter stepped into the room and was overwhelmed by its beauty. Everything in here seemed to be standing and hanging on just the right places – all the paintings and whirring little contraptions, simply everything was in harmony with each other, contributing to the perfection of the round room. The old headmaster must have known a lot about feng shui, Daniel thought, basking in the warm feeling of peace that was radiating from every object.

"Wonderful room, sir," he told Albus.

"I'm glad you like it," Dumbledore smiled, pointing at the chair opposite his desk. Dan seated himself, but couldn't sit calmly for a second; he kept looking around again and again, marvelling at the sight. His glance finally stopped on a huge red bird that had golden tail-feathers. 

"You seem to like Fawkes," Albus said with an amused expression.

"Fawkes? Is that the phoenix whose tail-feather is in my dad's wand?"

"Exactly. He only gave two single tail-feathers throughout his whole life…"

"… and the other belonged to Voldemort," Dan nodded knowingly. "Dad told me. I think it's somehow creepy… that the two of them used brother-wands. I wish my wand had a brother… it would be so exciting… But no, mine doesn't have one," he added, pouting. "It has a simple unicorn-tail hair in it, according to Mr. Ollivander."

"I'm sure that your wand is just as excellent as any other Ollivander wand, and believe me, it is better that it has no brother," Albus replied. "But the reason why I asked you to come here was not to discuss wands… Professor McGonagall informed me that you have been present when the spider-attack took place. I thought you could probably fill in the gaps…"

"What gaps, sir?"

"The reason why the beasts turned into ice-sculptures," the headmaster gave the boy an encouraging glance that gave Dan the feeling of being X-rayed. "Do you know anything about it? Did you see anything that Professor McGonagall and my brother didn't?"

There are some people to whom one just cannot lie. This person is different for everyone – for some it's their mother or father, for others it's their best friend, for again others it's their teacher. For Daniel it was Dumbledore.

"I didn't see anything, but… I know what happened. I just don't understand it, sir," he replied.

"Then maybe you should tell me what you know and together we might be able to understand it," Albus suggested.

Dan heaved a deep sigh. "I… I did it."

"You?"

"Yes… at least I think so," the boy nodded. "This wasn't the first time that I did something like that, though… the first time was when I blew up the Snitch."

"So it was you, then!" the headmaster gave him an 'I-have-always-suspected'-look.

"Yes," Dan hung his head. "You can punish me for it, sir, but I swear I don't know how I did it. Or partly I know, but I still can't explain…"

"At least try."

"Well… you know that my relationship to my cousins isn't exactly spiffing," Albus nodded. "In fact, I joined the Slytherin Quidditch team to show my cousins that I wasn't that much of a dunderhead… and when the twins managed to knock me off my broom, I got very angry with them… or rather with _myself,_ because I _couldn't_ show them that I wasn't a dunderhead. Do you understand this, sir?" he looked up to meet Dumbledore's clear blue eyes.

"Certainly, Daniel. Everyone has a bit of a thirst to prove himself and you might have a bit bigger dose of it than the others, given that you were born a squib and now want to prove that you are still someone," Albus made his assessment. "You don't need to feel ashamed because of it, it's quite a natural reaction of the human mind – once you are considered as worthless, your self-defence kicks in and you want to prove yourself being more valuable than the others think. So… you blew up the Snitch because you were angry."

"Yes, sir… and I don't understand how… I mean… mere seconds before Kevin could have caught the Snitch, I imagined it exploding, and then it did! Tonight I saw my dad and professor Lupin fighting the spiders and I imagined the spiders being frozen… and they froze. In both cases I felt some energy leaving my body – or was I just imagining it? Can you explain this to me?" Dan said with an imploring voice. "I have to know, professor! This is driving me nuts, this uncertainty! What are these powers I possess? And why haven't I possessed them before?"

Albus seemed contemplative for a moment, as if trying to connect Daniel's words to something else, putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together.

"May I ask you a rather personal question, Mr. Potter?"

Dan looked surprised, but nodded. "Certainly, go ahead."

"Have you had your first erection yet?"

Dan was dumbstruck by this question. When Albus told him that he wanted to ask something personal, he thought it would be something like 'Have you ever called Professor Snape a slimy git behind his back?' He was not in the least prepared for a question like this. He blushed to the roots of his hair and stared at the mahogany surface of the headmaster's table.

"I take it that means yes," Albus said. Dan nodded and slowly looked up to meet Dumbledore's cheerfully glinting eyes.

"But professor… what does this have to do with…?"

"A lot, Mr. Potter, a lot. More than you could possibly imagine," Albus replied and stood up. Dan watched as he walked up to the door and disappeared down the escalator.

*Is he making fun of me?* he thought bitterly. *First he asks whether I have had a hard-on, and now that I admitted, he leaves.*

One minute later the headmaster returned with Harry and Ginny in tow. Dan felt as if his heart had been tossed up into his throat, forming an irritably pulsating lump in there. Why had Dumbledore brought up his parents? Did he want to tell his mother that he…? Better not think of it, better not think of it! He thought he'd die of embarrassment if his mother had got to know… talking with his father about it was quite okay, but his mum… well, she was female, for heaven's sake! And females always burst into peals of giggles when talking about things like this… not that Ginny was the stupidly giggling type like Yvette Weasley or Lavinia Flint, but still… a woman.

Dumbledore conjured two more seats and the Potter couple sat down.

"I have asked you to join Daniel and me because I have interesting news to share with you," Albus said.

Daniel slipped a bit lower in his chair, as if he had shrunk in the wash. *Interesting news, eh?* he fumed, already fearing what his mother would say when she got to know that he had blown up the Snitch, frozen three acromantulas and even had an erection…

"What news, Albus?" Harry asked with a worried expression. 

"Is it about our son?" Ginny breathed.

"Yes, it is… but don't worry, Ginny," Dumbledore gave her a gentle smile. "It's not bad news. On the contrary. It's something wonderful."

*Yeah… something wonderful… imagine, your son is no little boy anymore, if you get what I mean!* Dan saw Albus saying this in his mind's eye. Lucky that this imagining stuff didn't work all the time, or else Dumbledore would have really uttered those words. But to Daniel's great surprise Albus said the following:

"Harry, Ginny… your son is an Imaginer."

"A what?" the Potter parents asked.

"An Imaginer. A very rare type of wizard… in fact Great Britain's history only knows of one other Imaginer… Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor's son, Godwin."

"Gryffindor's son?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I always thought that Gryffindor had no heirs."

"Oh, yes, the history books say that he never got married nor did he father children… The wizarding population of Britain has been under a delusion for a millennium… but I know the truth, given that one of my ancestors witnessed the whole story," Albus replied. "My ancestor, Lady Helga Hufflepuff, who married Archibald Dumbledore."

"Wow, sir, you are the descendant of a founder, then?" Daniel breathed, forgetting about his worries that Dumbledore might reveal more to his mother than he should. "How cool is it!"

"Yes, cool, isn't it, Mr. Potter?" Albus smiled at the boy. "And you are a descendant of two founders."

"What?" Harry and Daniel gasped.

"Let me tell you the whole story, then," the headmaster replied. "It all began with Lady Rowena getting married to Salazar Slytherin – an arranged marriage, of course. Their fathers had decided about it. But Rowena loved Godric, and once Salazar left the country for several months, she gave birth to Godric's son. The only persons who knew about the birth were her best friend Helga and Helga's husband. Although Rowena managed to keep her pregnancy a secret by placing illusion-charms on herself, showing herself slim, she couldn't have hidden her son from Salazar's wrath. So she gave him away, to a well-to-do wizarding couple who couldn't have children – the Potters. The Potters raised Gryffindor's son as their own, this way you, Harry, and you, Daniel, are Gryffindor's heirs."

"Gryffindor's heir in Slytherin," Dan grunted. "How ironic."

"Let me continue," Albus hushed him. "So, Godwin was raised by the Potters… but there was a little bit of a problem with him. He was born a squib. The Potters didn't really mind having a non-magic child, they were happy to have a child to care for at all. The Potter father loved fishing a lot, and one day he happened to catch a Magic Goldfish. At those times the waters of Europe were teeming with Magic Goldfish that fulfilled one wish. As the centuries passed, there were less and less of these fish thus they started to fulfil three wishes to keep the balance. Potter caught a fish, and had one single wish – to turn his son a wizard. The story is familiar, is it not, Harry?"

Harry nodded with a small smile, still gratefully thinking of Desideria, the goldfish who used to live in Durmstrang's lake. As his third wish he had asked the fish to make sure that all his descendants would be magic… he still wondered sometimes why the fish had demurred… what could be wrong with that wish?

"So, Godric Gryffindor's son became magic just like me?" Dan asked.

"Yes," the headmaster nodded. "And he also became an Imaginer."

"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore, but what _is _an Imaginer?" Ginny asked.

"An Imaginer has the power to make things come true by merely imagining them. A very rare gift – and likely it was transferred into your son by the goldfish's fulfilment of the wish. In Godwin's case, his special powers only kicked in when he turned sexually mature – just like in your son's case."

"What?" Ginny blinked, her stare slipping from Dumbledore to her furiously blushing son. "Oh… I had no idea. Did you, Harry?"

Her husband gave her an impish grin. "'Course I knew, honey… it's men's business."

"Oh, I see," Ginny grinned and turned back to Albus, deciding that she wouldn't make her son feel even more embarrassed. "So… Daniel has turned an Imaginer?"

"Yes, and he was the one who saved you from the spiders," Albus told Harry.

"My son?" Harry's eyes widened. "Really, Dan?"

"Yeah, dad. I imagined that they froze," the boy shrugged.

"Wow," was all that Harry could comment. "And can you… can you just imagine anything and make it real?"

"Nope," Dan shook his head. "I have only managed twice before, dad. Tonight, and once before that…" he turned slightly red again, "with the Snitch."

"Hah! So you made it explode?" Professor Potter gasped. "You little tyke!"

"You blew up the Snitch? But Daniel!" Ginny scowled a bit.

"It wasn't intentional, mum. I was just so angry and… it happened."

"Yes, exactly," the headmaster said. "The powers of a fledgling Imaginer are restricted. They are only usable when the Imaginer feels strong emotions like anger or fear…"

"… or love?" Daniel added insecurely. He didn't like the idea of stripping poor Liu Chang in front of the Great Hall in the middle of a wild fantasy… then again he hadn't done anything to Liu when they had been kissing in the bush – although he had been feeling rather strong emotions then. Or was that only his hormones? He wasn't really able to tell love from attraction, but no children of his age were capable of that.

"Well, I'm not sure that love is on the list, Mr. Potter," replied the headmaster. "But in case it is, then you might imagine something um… _interesting_ about the lady you love, so that is why I believe that you have to be trained."

"Trained, sir?"

"Yes, trained," Albus nodded. "You have no idea how many funny and not-so-funny things have happened due to Godwin Potter's freely flowing emotions… he had no trainer and had to learn to control himself on his own – it took him almost his whole life, but fortunately he had been supported all along by my ancestor – his best friend, son of Helga Hufflepuff. My dear ancestor happened to write Godwin's mishaps into his diary – it was my favourite childhood reading, I used to be rolling on the floor laughing… um, well, the point is that my ancestor wrote down the way his best friend learned to control himself to some extent, and following the diary we will be able to tutor you, so that you will learn to use your powers consciously, not just on instinct. I cannot guarantee you that you'll become a fully-trained Imaginer, because I cannot teach you as properly from a diary as I could from a book, but I'll do everything in my power to help you," seeing a wide grin spread on the boy's face, he added: "You must note, Mr. Potter, that you have been given a great gift, and great gifts need great sense of responsibility."

"I understand, sir," Dan nodded.

"Good," Albus smiled. "First of all, I must ask you not to mention this to anyone. You will be trained in secret, so that no one can take advantage of your powers."

Daniel grimaced. "I fear that… Gilda and Norbert know already. Well, sort of."

"Sort of?" Dumbledore knitted his eyebrows.

"I told them that I imagined stuff that came true… that's all," the boy shrugged. "Is it a problem?"

"Hm… the beans are spilt, but we still might be able to push them back into the sack…" the headmaster mused. "You just need to deny everything from now on. If they ask you, say that you were wrong and you couldn't make things happen, after all. To the public it shall be Professor Lupin who did away with the spiders – he is the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, after all."

Dan nodded. "I understand."

"All right. And now, off to bed with you! Chop-chop!"

* * * * *

Daniel was utterly exhausted by the time he got into bed. Abu greeted him with a friendly squeak, only to earn a 'shut your ruddy monkey up!' from Donald Rookwood who had already been asleep, but got awakened by Abu's greeting of his master.

"Norbert?" Dan asked the boy lying on the adjacent bed.

"What is it?" young Malfoy grunted, still in his vampire costume.

"Where have you been all along? You missed everything."

"You mean the spider thing and Snape's ridiculous costume?" Norbert drawled. "The other boys told me about them."

"But where have you been all along?"

"In here."

"What were you doing here, instead of partying with the others?" Dan wondered, taking his starry, pointed Merlin-hat off his head and throwing off his also starry robes.

"I didn't feel like partying… after I talked to my dear brother," Norbert spat the word 'brother' with utter disgust.

"Will you two shut up?" Iago Rosier snapped from the end of the room.

"Oh… you fell out again?" Dan asked, as though he hadn't heard Iago's complaint.

"Fell out? That's a grave understatement! It was the greatest quarrel of our lives! Mother would have got a heart-attack if she had heard us shouting at each other like that," came Norbert's answer in a rather upset tone. "Draco's making my life miserable! He hates me! But no matter, because I hate him, too, so we are quits."

"You just… ran down here after quarrelling with your brother and didn't feel like coming back to the tent?" Dan asked, pulling on his pyjamas. 

"Yeah. I wanted to be alone, because I feared that I'd just curse someone in that state of mind… I left. But this way I missed all those wonderful meals, too…" he sighed. "I'm hungry, thirsty and very mad at Draco! Really, how did good old Snape get saved? People say that the spiders froze, but how did it happen?"

"Er… it was done by Professor Lupin," Daniel replied. "Allegedly he used a unique freezing charm that he had learnt in Peru over the summer."

"Really?" his friend gave him an incredulous look. "I thought it might have been _you_."

"Me?" Dan blinked. "Oh… you think of that imagining stuff… Well, no. I was wrong. I don't have powers to blow things up or freeze spiders, or…"

"Then how did the Snitch blow up?"

"Dunno. Might have been someone's nasty joke. It was a mere coincidence that I imagined it exploding just before it actually did," young Potter shrugged, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, and slipped under the covers.

"Oh… pity," Norbert sighed. "It would have been cool if you had such talents."

"Yeah, I'd also be happy if I possessed such powers, but unfortunately I do not. Period," Dan replied, pulling the curtains around his bed to hide him from his friend. 

"And how's Snape?"

"He'll live, according to dad," Dan said through the curtain. "You know what? I'm happy that he didn't die. I don't hate him that much anymore."

* * * * *

The next morning everyone woke up late. Harry was having breakfast, sitting next to his sister-in-law at a rather empty staff table. All the other teachers who didn't have a first lesson were still asleep, some of them even recovering from a serious hangover.

"I have made a decision, Hermione," he spoke up.

"Whaaaaat?" she yawned.

"I'm going to read _Hogwarts, a history_."

Hermione almost dropped the bowl of marmalade she was holding. "Excuse me? Have I heard it right? Harry Potter wants to read _Hogwarts, a history_? Do you have fever, Harry?"

"No," he shook his head with a grin. "I'm serious. I want to read that book, to get to know more about Godric Gryffindor."

"Why? Don't you know enough of him already?" she raised an eyebrow. "He was a brave guy, whose favourite colours were red and gold and he used to have a coat-of-arms with a lion. Anything else?"

"Definitely. I'd like to know about his relationship with Rowena Ravenclaw."

"His what?" Hermione blinked. "He was a single man who never got married and no one knew about him being involved with anyone!"

"But he _was_ involved with Rowena. Actually they had a child together."

"Where are you getting these ideas from, eh?"

"Dumbledore told me, last night," Harry said seriously. "Although Rowena married Slytherin, she had a son from Gryffindor – a son called Godwin, whom she gave away to the Potters to raise."

"To the… heavens!" she breathed. "Then you are…"

"Gryffindor's heir, yes," Harry nodded, amused by his sister-in-law's dumbfounded expression. "That's why I'd like to know more about him. About my ancestor."

"Well… the second and fifth chapter of _Hogwarts, a history_ tell a lot about him… but apparently _not enough,_" she mumbled, still amazed. "How did Dumbledore know about this at all? I have read many books on the founders, but none of them mentioned anything about this…"

"Albus knows it from his ancestors who have been passing down this from father to son like a family secret for a millennium. You know, Albus is the descendant of Helga Hufflepuff and Helga was a close friend of Rowena's. No one but Helga and her husband, Archie Dumbledore, knew about Gryffindor's illegitimate son."

"Wow… Then you have both Gryffindor's and Ravenclaw's blood coursing in your veins… and Dumbledore's got Hufflepuff's. We only need a Slytherin and the circle shall be full."

"Don't joke about that, Hermione… you know that the last descendant of Slytherin's was Voldemort."

"Yeah, fortunately," she nodded. "But tell me, Harry, how came that Albus told you this… after all these years? He could have told you while you were at school… for example when you fought against the basilisk with Gryffindor's sword."

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. Speaking of basilisk, did you know that someone was playing a rather nasty little joke on the Forbidden Forest's residents?"

"What nasty joke?"

"Someone put an illusion charm on a trunk to make it look like a basilisk, this way scaring the acromantulas out of the woods so that they could trample on Snape."

"Trample on Snape?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah. It seems that someone wanted to kill him. He had been sent a note that his life was in danger and that he was to meet someone on the edge of the forest – someone who would help him. He went there, found no one and almost got killed by the spiders."

"But… who would have a reason to kill him?" she pondered.

"A good question. But he said something… scaring, Hermione. He said that his Dark Mark was occasionally hurting. And, truth be told," he turned to look directly into her eyes, "I'm also having headaches… not exactly my scar aches, but somewhere around it. It's not a sharp pain as it used to be when Voldemort was alive, it's dull, still… alarming."

"But… he can't be… alive, Harry. He can't be," she stuttered. "He died. He exploded, his body went up in a cloud of smoke, all of us saw it! Or could he…" she looked like deeply immersed in her thoughts for a minute, "No, he can't."

"He can't what?"

"Have reincarnated."

"Reincarnated?" Harry gulped. 

"Yes… I suddenly remembered that mad Tatyana who was reincarnating for centuries… but Voldemort couldn't have, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" a chill ran down Harry's spine at the mention of Tatyana's name. The worst memories of his life were in connection with her.

"Yes, I'm totally sure. I read a book about wizard-reincarnation and it said that only people who were obsessed with reaching something and didn't reach it in their lives would reincarnate. Like Tatyana… she wanted to re-awaken that crazy lover of hers and she kept being reborn just to accomplish it."

"And what about Voldemort? I mean… he wanted to rule over the world and get immortal… and didn't reach his goal," Harry reasoned.

"I know, still he couldn't have reincarnated. There is a number-one rule in the netherworld: if you have killed one single person in your life – I mean if you did it out of evilness, you are denied the chance to be reborn. As far as we know Tatyana didn't murder anyone in any of her lives. She was evil, yes, but she wasn't a murderer. She only killed Anor in her very last life… so now not even she can reincarnate anymore. But Voldemort… you couldn't count the people he killed out of pure evilness, greed and hatred. He is rotting in hell and can't come back."

"Whew… what a relief," Harry sighed and downed a cup of tea. "I was really scared out of my wits, you know… I don't feel like ever meeting him again."

"Then just be a good boy, Harry, and then you won't need to fear that you'd meet him in hell," she gave him a small smile.

"But then… why these symptoms? Snape's Mark hurting and stuff?"

"No idea. Ignore it, Harry. He might only have rheumatics and you might have been too nervous lately because of your son…"

"You must be right. I _was_ nervous about him."

"And nervousness can give you nasty headaches," she added knowingly.

In the next instant an owl swooped down on Hermione with the _Daily Prophet_.

_MAYHEM AT THE HOGWARTS HALLOWEEN PARTY_ – said the headline on the front page.

"Hm… I was kind of expecting something like this," the young Arithmancy professor said. "The writer is… would you look at that!"

"What?" Harry asked, stuffing the last chunk of his beacon sandwich into his mouth. 

"That!" Hermione pointed at the journalist's name. Rhea Skeeter.

"Skeeter? Is she related to good old Rita?" Harry frowned.

"Must be. I wonder whether she has Rita's endearing style," she replied and they both started reading the article.

_You would think that a huge festivity like the celebration of the 1000th birthday of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would surely be adequately organised beforehand – but you'd be disappointed. Never in the last thousand years has the old castle seen a party this unplanned and disorderly. We might wonder what Albus Dumbledore, unworthy headmaster of the school, has done with all the money the Hogwarts Foundation has received from the Ministry for the occasion – but we can be sure that the amount was NOT spent on the organisation of the event. _

_For those who entered the Festivity Tent yesterday evening, had to be seriously disappointed with the lack of order there – even Muggle pubs seem to be more orderly. Not that the decorations weren't attention-awakening (although they clearly showed the headmaster's and the staff-members' serious lack of taste), but the rest of the programme barely met your expectations. The food served by the Hogwarts house-elves was so to say inedible, not to mention that weak wine they dared call 'mulled mead'. _

_Those who were invited were excitedly awaiting the awarding ceremony, in which the three students wearing the best costumes were given so called presents (if you can call 50 galleons a 'present' in our days when the inflation makes a loaf of bread cost fifty sickles and you cannot get a wand for less than eleven galleons. Oh, the good old times when a wand cost only seven galleons! Not that the Ministry of Magic does anything to stop the inflation, though!) However excited the guests were to get to know the winners, they had to be disappointed again – the Hogwarts teachers proved to be as short sighted and conservative as possible, giving the first award to a boy in pumpkin costume. Pumpkin! At Halloween, when everything is full of pumpkins! Absolutely ridiculous. And if that was not enough, the second place got occupied by none other than Albus Dumbledore's great-niece, Julie Dumbledore. We might only wonder what the headmaster has threatened the staff-members with to vote for little Julie's costume._

_To add to the party's already too ludicrous atmosphere, the three awarded children chose Severus Snape's (Potions Master at Hogwarts) transvestite outfit as the best of all the teachers'. Yes, you did not read it wrong – the professor was indeed dressed up as a transvestite – in lacy female robes, a typical hat of an old lady with an ugly vulture on it, and a red handbag. He looked only a little bit worse than Professor Trelawney, the eighty-year-old Divination teacher, who dared to wear a belly-dancer costume, showing so much of herself that those who did not get sick at her sight had serious difficulties of stopping laughing. We might wonder why Albus Dumbledore let the staff-members wear immoral outfits like these._

_The only worth-of-mentioning event at the whole 'party' was the acromantula attack on the 'transvestite' Severus Snape. We might only guess what five huge acromantulas could have been doing out of the Forbidden Forest, but very possibly we will never get to know – either because no one in the whole blundering Hogwarts staff knows the answer, or because they'll try to hush it up._

As the article ended, Harry and Hermione exchanged a dark glance.

"Indeed Rita's style," Harry grunted, eyeing the moving picture of the vulture-hat-wearing Snape under the text. A paparazzi might have taken the photo when Snape didn't notice, because the Potions Master wasn't the type to let anyone leave the Hogwarts grounds with such a picture of him in his camera.

"Rita's style, all right, and Rita's grudge against Dumbledore," Hermione perceived. "I wonder why these Skeeter women have it in for Albus."

Harry shrugged. "I rather wonder who has it in for Snape… and Gilda Lockhart. Imagine, someone wiped her memories yesterday at the ball."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Her mother, Anck-sun-Amun, has told Dumbledore that Gilda had about half an hour of her life missing. You know that Sunny's the daughter of Abysmal-sun-Amun, the widely-known memory-back-lurer who also happened to be here at the party. Abysmal knows how to retrieve lost memories without addling the person's brain. Only few wizards are capable of that, it needs a lot of knowledge and practice, so I heard. And Abysmal will surely make it very careful – it's about his only grandchild, after all…"

Remus Lupin entered the hall and headed for the staff table, but sat down as far from Harry and Hermione as possible.

"Why did he look at you like that?" Hermione whispered to her brother-in-law. "As if he was trying to kill you with his eyes!"

"Oh… another little detail that you don't know yet, Herm," Harry sighed. "So… you know the Discord Potion, right?"

* * * * *

Most of the students were slumbering during Transfiguration that morning. Many of them even missed breakfast, trying to get out of bed and into the classroom as soon as possible after having overslept. McGonagall must have been aware of the students' unusual drowsiness because she didn't really push them, just made them exercise things the class had already covered.

Daniel and Norbert were only kept awake by Gilda, who insisted that it was impolite to sleep in class (though she was rather sleepy, too).

Julie Dumbledore, however, didn't seem sleepy – she looked rather sad about something. When the bell signalling the end of the lesson rang and the students left the classroom, Minerva called after the girl.

"Yes, Professor?" Julie doubled back and shuffled back to McGonagall's desk. She seemed to have shrunk – perhaps she was afraid of the deputy-headmistress, who – up till now – hadn't been too nice to her.

"I have noticed that you are concerned about something, Miss Dumbledore."

Julie shrugged. "Not really."

Minerva gave her a small smile. "You can tell me what's bothering you – maybe I can help."

"You cannot help, Professor," the little girl shook her head. "You can't help, unless you can turn back time and prevent Rhea Skeeter from writing her article."

"Oh, that article!" Minerva waved. "I know. That woman wrote that Albus had been…"

"…favouring me, yes," Julie hung her head. "And I know that it is what everybody thinks… that I got second place because I'm related to the headmaster!" a tear ran down her cheek.

"Oh, child!" McGonagall breathed and gathered her into a hug. "Don't even listen to that silly cow!"   

The little girl looked up, grinning. "Professor, you have just called someone a silly cow!" she seemed to think it was very amusing.

"Yes, I did, and I don't care! Rhea Skeeter is exactly like her aunt who was a silly cow, too! I just wonder why these Skeeter women keep being so nasty to poor Albus… But just forget what she wrote, okay? Don't give a damn about her – or anyone else's – opinion. I for one really liked your costume, Julie, it was a very original idea," Minerva added with a wink.

A bright smile spread on Julie's face. "I never thought that the strict Professor McGonagall could be like this!"

"She can," the old woman smiled. "Your great-grandpa's fault – his behaviour rubbed off on me."

Julie chuckled. "It's so nice to know that you can be… other than just an austere professor. And I thought that you hated me… you don't hate me, do you, Professor?"

"Oh, no, dear. I was just a bit… surprised to get to know that my Aby had a great-granddaughter, that's all. I'm not too good at adjusting to new situations, I suppose. Sorry if I was nasty to you. I apologise."

"Apology accepted," Julie beamed. "Can we be friends from now on?"

"We can," Minerva nodded. "But only outside class." 

"Okay," the girl smiled. "Thank you, Professor."

"We're outside class now. Call me Minerva."

* * * * *

_"Revocare deponit memoriam,_" said Abysmal-sun-Amun, pointing his wand at Gilda. His granddaughter seemed to have sunk into some kind of a half-sleeping state, her eyes closed, but her mind open to her grandfather's words. "What do you remember of that half an hour of which you had no memories, my child?" he asked in a soothing voice.

"I remember… a man in black robes and black mask," the girl mumbled, her eyes still shut, concentrating on the memory her grandfather had retrieved from the deepest recesses of her mind.

"What is he doing?" 

"He is saying… _Imperio_, and pushing two things into my hands… a little bit of folded parchment and a small vial with translucent liquid."

"What is on that parchment and what's in the vial?" asked Mr. sun-Amun.

"I… don't know. I'm not allowed to have a look at them… I'm just fulfilling the orders I'm given…"

"What orders?"

"I have to… give Professor Snape the parchment and… disappear into the crowd before he could see that it was me… and I have to pour a bit of the vial's contents into two glasses of champagne… the glasses belong to Professor Lupin and Professor Potter… then… it's over. That's all."

"Thank you, Mr. sun-Amun," Dumbledore said and turned to Gilda. "Don't you remember anything of that person who cast _Imperius_ on you?"

"No. He wasn't too tall, I guess, but that was all I saw of him, since his whole body was covered in black… it was a bit like a Zorro costume, but not entirely, because the mask covered his whole face, not just around his eyes… and he had a deep, rumbling voice. I can't tell more."

"Well, thank you, Gilda," replied Dumbledore after Abysmal sun-Amun woke up the girl from her trance. "You may go now."

As the girl left the staff room with her grandpa, Albus, Aberforth, Minerva, Harry, Lupin and Hermione exchanged shocked glances.

"So it was her," the headmaster said. "We've got to tell Snape as well as soon as he awakes. Madame Pomfrey has given him a rather strong sleeping draught."

"What will happen to that poor girl, Albus?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, of course. We cannot punish her for something she has done under _Imperius_." Dumbledore replied. "I'm off to the infirmary – maybe Severus has awoken already."

* * * * *

"It's all my fault."

"No, it's not."

"But it is, Professor Snape," sighed Bert Bradley. "If I hadn't talked you into wearing that stupid costume, you wouldn't be regarded as a transvestite in that article."

"Listen to me, Mr. Bradley," replied Severus, "_I _wanted to wear that outfit. This was my apology to Neville Longbottom for having made his seven years at Hogwarts a living hell…"

"Oh, Professor Snape!" the caretaker chuckled. "A sign of humanity!"

"Yeah… recently I've been feeling a bit humane, though I don't know why… it hasn't happened to me for… thirty years."

"Thirty? Isn't that a bit too much?" Bert folded his arms, giving the Potions Master a curious look.

"No, it was in fact… thirty-three years ago that I last acted humanely," Snape said with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "That was when the only love of my life married another. And from that time on I stopped having human feelings… I stopped feeling at all… but lately I have started to have certain feelings again – I just don't know what those are, can't interpret them… Maybe someone who hasn't had feelings so long has forgotten what it feels like to _feel,_" he met the caretaker's eyes and shook his head. "And I have no idea why I'm pouring my heart out to you, Mr. Bradley. I'm not the type to go all emotional… it must be the shock of the attack…"

"Or maybe it's just friendship," Bert replied softly.

"Friendship?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah… you have poured your heart out to me because you regarded me as your friend."

Snape snorted. "Friends! If I knew what that word meant!"

"It means trust, Professor. It means patience… and tolerance towards the other's bad qualities. It means accepting him the way he is."

Snape's expression was unreadable. No one in his whole life had told him anything like this. No one in his whole life had called himself his friend. But Bradley did.

He felt an urge to sit up, grab the caretaker's hand and shake it as fervently as he could, but he restrained himself. Potions Masters usually didn't make friends with mere caretakers (especially if they were Muggles), now did they? True that Snape had hit it off with Filch quite well, but only because both of them desired to catch students out of bed and punish them – besides their dislike for children they had nothing in common. But Bradley was different… he liked Potions! He understood it and could even teach Snape things he didn't know about Muggle Chemistry. He was nice to talk to – the only person Severus liked talking to since Lily had married that ruddy James Potter. Lily Evans had been the first – and up till now only – person he liked talking to… but she hadn't liked Potions. Bradley did.

The awkward silence between the two of them got interrupted by Vernon Dursley rising from his bed and looking for the bathroom. Petunia Dursley was still asleep, blissfully unaware of the fact that she was still in the oh-so-hated wizard school.

The caretaker excused himself from Snape and left – just when Albus entered.

"Looking much healthier than yesterday, Severus," the headmaster smiled. "I have interesting news for you."

While Dumbledore filled him in on Gilda's case, Petunia woke up.

"Where am I?" she blinked, rubbing her eyes.

"At Hogwarts, Mrs. Dursley," Albus replied, stepping to her bed. "Had a nice sleep, I trust?"

"Hogwarts? That lunatic ward?" she shrieked and jumped out of the bed just as her husband returned from the toilet. "We are leaving, Vernon! I'm not spending any more time among these freaks!"

"Hm… I fear, Mrs. Dursley, that there's no train until tomorrow afternoon. You have missed today's train while you were sleeping," with an impish grin Albus added: "You will have to put up with our hospitality for another twenty hours. Until then, feel yourself at home."

**A/N:**

revocare deponit memoriam = to retrieve deleted memory (thanks to _PadmeSykwalker_ for her help on this one)

_Nefertiri_: hm… your crossover sounds cool :) Is it going to be long? About the person wiping Gilda's memory, setting the spiders on Snape, etc… well, he/she might be the greatest enemy… you may never know ;)

_Wood's secret lover:_ sure, we have QttA and FBaWTFT here in Hungary. I like QttA more than the other one, it's funnier. I don't know whether you can still get them, but I think in Hungary you can. *shrugs* haven't been to a bookshop for ages.

_goldenstar555_: thanks a lot :)

_Kit Cloudkicker_: oh, yes, definitely they are.

_seashell:_ yeah, the Ents were great. And that flying dragon, too. But Gollum was a bit Dobbyish, don't you think?

_jennaration_: I'm glad I could make you happy with dedicating the last chapter to you :) 

_Sean Mulligan_: why would Daniel win a prize for the Merlin costume? Merlin is over-used and boring, and I _deliberately_ made him wear something as common so that he wouldn't win that prize. And of course I know that Rowan Atkinson is Mr. Bean, I LOOOOOVE Mr Bean! (in my profile I mention Rowan Atkinson as one of my fave actors!) I guess I've seen all the Mr Bean episodes – have you? My favourite scene is in a Christmas episode, when Mr Bean goes to a warehouse, picks up a toy T-Rex and pretends to be threatening the toy Virgin Mary with it. It's simply hilarious!

_Altec_: I'm also sure that there are more than 11 teachers at Hogwarts, but some of them voted for other people whose names Dumbledore didn't read out, because they got only one vote and he just read out the names of the three people who got the most votes. 

_Wizzabee_: book five comes out on 21st June. About Gilda… well, now you know her involvement, but she wasn't manipulated the same way Ginny was in CoS, she just got Imperius.

_Missy_: no, I'm not good at playing the piano at all, because I haven't been exercising it for about a year. I'm ashamed of it, I admit, but I just don't feel like playing anymore. But when I played, I loved playing Bach.

_Sky_: I didn't like the fight between Harry and Remus, too, but it had to happen. Btw, you know how funny I feel every time I read your name? In my college there's a boy whose nickname is Sky – he got 'named' after an ice cream called Sky! :) But you're a girl, right?

_Black Ice_: I'm also rooting for Slytherin… though I cannot promise you that Slytherin wins the house-cup this year.

_sabby_: thanks a lot :) Mysterious, huh? Good… because that's why I gave it 'mystery' as second genre.

_The Millennium One_: I'm glad that you think that this is my best fic yet, because that's my opinion, too (and it's still far from being 'really good', that comes later). About Bradley… hm… you have a vivid imagination. Ginny having Voldemort in herself and passing it down to Dan? That's an interesting one, too. But no, it's not true.

_King Jasbon_: no, Voldemort had no children.

_ruffled owl: _of course no tears yet, that comes in chapter 16.

_Lana Riddle_: thanks :)

_Bamboo Anime_: ah, I guess I've seen a film-version of Annie! Now that you told me the story of it, it sounded somehow familiar. As far as I remember, Annie was a little redhead in the film.

_TaMaraR:_ well, now you know what Gilda did last summer… er… last night :)

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: yes, I LOVE evil cliffies. :D

_Ameena Raynor_: welcome back, I'm happy to see you again! I was wondering what happened to LilBit :)

_Alexander Phoenix_: of course Harry wouldn't tell Remus. But Remus might still get to know somehow… who knows? :)

_Princess Ginny_: in the high school we had lots of bomb threats, and we thought they were fun because we could leave the school :) But in most cases we had to make up for the lost lessons :(

_C-chan_: perhaps I'll read that fic of yours… it sounds interesting. But is the whole thing slash? Because I'm not exactly a fan of slash. My Latin dictionary is a book, but it wouldn't make any use if I told you the author, because the author is Hungarian, and it's a Hungarian/Latin dictionary. 

_FireBolt9000:_ WHAT? No, Gilda isn't pregnant! And I promise you that no underage people will have sex in this fic, so they won't be able to get pregnant. In this story only the adults have sex, the children don't. I thought that TGSiHH had enough of teenage pregnancies :))

_2Coolio_: just keep reading, and I PROMISE you that you WON'T be displeased! You have my word. You'll see why in chapter… um… 20?

_Katrina_: why are you blaming poor Mr. Bradley? ;)

_candycaneOgram:_ I can't tell you whether a teacher made the basilisk-illusion or not, sorry. Dan and Gilda – well, perhaps ;) No, Voldemort had no children or siblings.

_Romina:_ you mean the Moldiemort robes? LOL, I love those, too :) "I mocked Voldemort, ask me how" – teehee! Anya's such a great author!

_Joyce_: glad you liked it!

_figgiesblazin:_ no, the chapter title didn't have anything to do with Tom Riddle.

_jasper_: when will you find out who was doing everything? Well… in chapter 27 *Agi cackles evilly*

_nimacu_: I will :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: you have a dirty mind to think that Snape and Bradley were hinting at something else when mentioning Hydrogen's isotopes. They were referring to Hydrogen's isotopes for real, no hidden meaning. About the centaur thingie… you're partly on the right track. Just partly. I won't order OotP online, because there's a bookshop in Budapest that pre-orders many copies and will start to sell them on 21st June. I'll just have to phone them and make sure they reserve a copy for me :) No, the Hungarian translation doesn't come out the same day, it'll come out about half a year later. But who cares when I can get it in English? :)) Yes, your review was the longest for this fic, but the ones you wrote for TGSaWCS were even longer. 

_Kamatazi Yumi_: no, I don't know that music group. Thank you very much for your appraisal, it brightened my day when I was very depressed about my upcoming exam (but I managed it wonderfully!). I'm very happy to hear that I managed to fill this fic with suspense – and it's still _far_ from being really suspenseful. By the time you reach chapter 24, you'll be hopelessly confused, LOL. But don't worry, you'll understand everything when the time comes. I admit that I showed the story to a Hungarian woman (besides my mother) to get a "reader's opinion" beforehand (since I considered my mum and Sienn as my _betas_ and not my _readers_). So I needed a test-reader who didn't give me beta-suggestions on the plot just read it and told me her opinion of the whole thing so that I knew what to expect from the ffnet readers. This woman said I managed to confuse her pretty much, but when I solved all riddles at the end, the only comment she could say was 'bloody brilliant' :) I hope that everyone here on ffnet will think the same as she did.

_rebkos:_ NO underage people will have sex in this fic, and rape is totally out of the question. I wouldn't be that rude to poor little Gilda, now would I? I like being rude to Harry, but not to poor kids. Cho-Harry affair? Well… not the way you'd think.

_Lady Schezar_: was last chapter odd? Well, then be prepared because lot odder things are coming!

_Indigo Ziona_: I don't think Snape wanted to win the contest :)

_sk8reagle_: glad you liked it.

_apple-pie_: yes, Snape is one of my favourite characters as well. You'll understand Bert when the time comes. 

_Houou_: no, Voldie didn't have siblings.

_Bucky_: between you and me: can't tell. Yes, Cho's a b***h, I totally agree! As for Dan/Gilda – hm… might be ;)

_Any last requests_: well, now you know that Norbert was in the Slytherin dorm. And no, Draco didn't turn into Lupin with Polyjuice. Glad you liked Snape as Neville's grandma :)

_Red Ridding Hood_: I'm also happy about the book five release. It was high time, really! Glad you liked Snape's costume :D

_Philip:_ no, you were totally on the wrong track, Gilda just got Imperius.

_Aimee:_ mysterious, huh? And it's still far from being really mysterious! Bradley looked gay, didn't he? LOL.

_reviewer:_ we don't really know Cho's personality, since Rowling didn't make her say more than five lines in the books. And even if she were a shy/non-lusty girl, she might have changed over all those years. She's 32 in this fic, and many people behave in a different way at the age of 32 than they behaved when they were 15. Anyway, my reason for hating her is exactly what you mentioned: I felt sorry for Harry for being rejected by her, and I wanted Harry to reject her now. On the other hand, there are several different Cho-descriptions in fanfiction, and they are usually very different from the one in the books (but remember again that we DON'T know her real personality!) I'm sure that no fanfic writer would ever write Cho the way Rowling would. Just think of all those things fanfic authors write about certain characters: e.g. Hermione falling for Snape, Draco falling for Ginny, Remus falling for Sirius, etc. Rowling would never write such things, but in fanfiction everything is possible. Btw, why did you think that Cho would have a bigger role in the upcoming books? Did Rowling say so? I thought she said that GINNY would have a bigger role in the upcoming books, and that made me think that Harry would finally start to like her and forget about Cho. I wouldn't mind if Harry dated Cho a bit, as long as he realises that Cho's not the one for him. And yes, I also felt sorry for Cho when Cedric died, but I just don't want to see her together with our beloved Harry. I'm saving Harry for Ginny :))

_PepsiAngel_: I don't have a schedule for updating. I update when I feel like or when I have time. But I update at least once a week.

_Laina:_ I hope you are feeling better now, I prayed for you :) I'm happy that you get excited every time I update this fic :D

_heavenly182angel_: we don't have a release date for OotP in Hungary yet. The Hungarian publisher said that our translator will get the book only on 21st June, and it'll take him months to translate it, so it might not be out by Christmas, only in January 2004. But I don't care as long as I get it (and I hope I will get it) in English! :) I share your opinion: the Malfoys aren't that bad, really! I don't understand people who keep describing Draco as some terribly evil person. I think he's nasty, mean, but not exactly evil. Of course I couldn't say the same thing about Lucius… he's really evil, IMHO.

_MauiGoddess3:_ Dan and Gilda? Hm… later :) Glad you found Snape's emotions towards Bradley funny!

_gigi-radcliffe_: Dan and Gilda, not Dan and Liu. Dan will have something to do with Liu, too, but I bet you wouldn't guess what it is :D

_Katie Bell_: in the real books, Lupin is FAR from being boring, it's just my fic in which I decided to make him a little bit 'less interesting'.

_Waldomier:_ Snape and Bradley – in love? Yeah, they might be. You said that it was strange for the culture you grew up in. May I ask where you grew up? I'm curious, really. Perhaps you mentioned this before, but I forgot, sorry.

_Autumn Dreams:_ Remus might get to know about Harry's third wish, but definitely not from Harry. So, you wanted to cry, because the last chapter was so sad? Ooooohhhh, then I don't dare imagine what you'll say when reading chapter 16. Make sure you'll have a hanky, I was crying when I wrote it, perhaps you'll be crying when you read it.

_AmandaPanda_: yeah, I guess that you thought that the fight between Harry and Remus was ooc. Well, of course it was, it was _supposed to be_ ooc! :)

_Neus_: Dan as "sex bomb"? Hahaha, you have no idea how much I laughed when I read that! That medieval city sounded interesting, do tell me more about it! :) We also have medieval ruins here in Budapest, and also ruins from the Roman times.

_Rab_: yes, I am really evil :)) You don't like Bert? Hm… you might start to like him later. He is one of my mum's favourite characters, but of course she knows everything about him while you don't know much yet ;)

_HP Blone Crazy Chick_: sorry, but you're on the wrong track. No, there won't be a sequel to this fic, because – as you'll see at the end – this fic very much concludes the whole story. But I might write other HP fics about H/G :) Right now I'm working on a short piece of TGSiHH outtake about Ron/Hermione's first time. It think it'll be R-rated, not NC-17, so I might upload it to ffnet some time around Valentine's Day :)

_BaileyBallinger:_ yeah, Dan is a bit like Harry, but only from a certain point of view. From another PoV he's very different from Harry. Gilda acts a bit like Hermione, but Hermione would never have played Quidditch or climbed trees or beaten the crap out of a bunch of boys… :) And yes, Norbert is a bit like Ron, but not too much. He's a Malfoy, after all. Yes, in the CoS book Rowling didn't tell that the huge spiders were called acromantulas, but when I read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I realised that acromantula was the name of their species. What should I explain about Dan and Liu?

_Kristen Michelle_: the last line of your review made me grin madly and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for minutes :)) Thanks. I'll try and think of an original story some day. Yes, Gilda does have a crush on Dannie, and they might get together ;)

_Zenon Lee_: I also hope to get book five the same day the British and the Americans. Well, now you know what kind of powers Daniel has and you were right about the goldfish' involvement. Are you related to Trelawney, by any chance?

_Myr Halcyon_: you wrote: _Too many "exclaimed"s and "proclaimed"s make writing seem kind of awkward_' Hm… I typed 'exclaim' and 'proclaim' into the search program and it found no 'exclaim' or 'proclaim' in chapter 12 at all. So, what exactly was your problem? Where there too many "shouted"s or what? The search program counted those too, and there were six of them. Is that too much in such a long chapter? Sorry, I have no idea, you know that English isn't my native language and I don't know much about writing style, at least not in English. But I took your advice and changed many "said"s in chapter 12 into "replied" and other synonyms (but only in my computer, I didn't feel like re-uploading it to ffnet). Feel free to make suggestions on my writing style whenever you want!

_the crazy girl_: thanks a lot, glad you like my fics so much! You have read them pretty quickly if you just discovered them a month ago! Yes, I love putting little hints everywhere, and it's funny that 95% of the readers don't notice them, but they tend to notice things that aren't important… :) Where do I get my ideas from? Hm… good question. Sometimes I just dream them, for example the idea of the Moon Ron in TGSiHH came from a dream I had two years ago. Some things come from my own life, for example Lily later in this story will say things that are my own opinion of something/someone – I'll tell you when I upload that chapter. Then I get ideas from various mythologies: Egyptian, Viking, Russian, etc. And besides that, I've been watching way too many Southern-American soap operas, and believe it or not, they give interesting ideas! For example when I was writing TGSiHH I watched an episode of an Argentine soap opera and the female character decided to pretend she was amnesiac to make the male character mad. And I thought: 'amnesia? Hm… good idea' ;) 

_Prongs:_ so, you're a French SW fan? Great :)) I can't tell you whether Dan is the enemy, I'd be giving away too much if I said clearly 'yes'/'no'. For the time being I'm not planning to put any French into my fic, but if I'll need French things in my future fics, I'll ask you :)

_LilGinny:_ good luck with your exams! In Hungary book five will be out half a year later, because the translator will need a lot of time to do a quality-work. But I hope I'll get it in English on 21st June. 

_Rose_: thanks, I was happy that Sabrinette decided to translate it into French. About a year ago a Mexican boy told me he'd translate it into Spanish, but I haven't heard about him ever since, so I have no idea whether he translated it or not. And imagine, a Hungarian woman is translating it into Hungarian! It feels so good to see my story in my beloved mother language at last! :))

_Punky Poet_: I'm happy that you're addicted ;)

_Toby Haine:_ it's okay, I understand that you don't have time, I had the same problems while I was having exams. Glad you found the last chapter exciting :)

_kryptKnight_: he'll use his animagus form, yes. But it won't be that _really _important.

_Saphron:_ I know what it's like to have finals and lack of sleep. Though I usually try to sleep even then… but I kind of gave up eating when I was having exams. Now I'm eating again :)


	14. Love your neighbour as yourself

**A/N**: guess whose photo I've seen in a magazine in an 18th century girl's costume? Daniel Radcliffe's! No kidding! He played a girl's role in "The Play What I Wrote" in Wyndham Theatre. I was rotfl when I saw the pic of him, wearing that frilly, long pink dress with a huge ribbon on the front! (Allegedly he even wore a blonde wig just took it off before that photo was taken – does that remind you of something? Hm… Dudley – pig in a wig? ;)

This chapter is dedicated to _JenniferW,_ who wrote the 1000th review for this fic!

**Chapter 14**

**Love your neighbour as yourself **

David Dursley had much fun playing the tourist guide for his (grand)parents. Vernon and Petunia Dursley did not want to stay at Hogwarts for a single hour after the Halloween events, but they had missed the train on 1st November, so they just had to wait for the next one – that meant that they had to spend another day in the castle. Knowing his aunt and uncle's absolute hate of magic, Harry had suggested that they should spend the rest of their stay at Hogsmeade, in Mrs. Figg's pension, but David had insisted that he wanted to show his granny and grandpa the school after he was done with his classes. Seeing the worried glances on the Dursleys' faces after Davie's announcement made Harry have a hard time fighting back his laughter.

Vernon kept saying that David should have invited Dudley and Millicent instead of Petunia and him, but Dave insisted that both his parents had already been to Hogwarts, but his grandparents hadn't. Once Vernon almost blurted out that 'we are your parents, for heaven's sake!', but he restrained himself, because he and Petunia had an agreement with Dudley and Millicent: David must never get to know that the people he believed to be his parents were in fact his brother and sister-in-law, while the people he believed to be his grandparents were his real parents. Harry thought that it was wise – it would have been rather awkward for Petunia and Vernon to explain to David that they had once felt disgusted by the mere thought of him being a wizard.

Petunia, who was a bit pale after the shock she had gone through, wanted to breath some fresh air, so Dave and Harry decided to escort the Dursleys to the greenhouses first. They didn't spend much time there, because the Venomous Tentacula almost snapped Vernon's hand off, and Professor Sprout was beside herself when 'that mad Muggle' wanted to strangle her cute, little, flesh-eating flower…

The next thing the Dursleys had been shown was the Quidditch pitch, where the Ravenclaws were having practice. Harry had to jerk Aunt Petunia out of the way of a Bludger that made her scream and jump into his arms. The charmed comet still vividly lived in her memories...

"Get your hands off my wife!" Vernon rumbled at his nephew, who was more than happy to put Petunia down.

"I'd like to make it up for you, auntie. For everything that happened to you here," he said with a smile. "Would you like to… fly?" he asked, seeing the woman's longing expression.

"Fly?" both Muggles gasped.

"Yes, fly. Just like them," Harry pointed at the Ravenclaw Quidditch team members. Liu Chang was scoring with the Quaffle – no doubt, she was just as good a flier as her mother.

"But… that's dangerous," Petunia muttered. "You could fall off…"

"Come on, aunt… don't pretend that you never ever wanted to try… especially when mum kept taking her broomstick home… you wanted to know what it feels like, didn't you?"

Petunia pursed her lips, blushing. "Well… I suppose so. But…"

"No buts… _Accio Rocket 5000_!" Harry waved his wand and his faithful broomstick arrived from the castle in no time.

"Now wait a minute…" Vernon began, when Harry grabbed Petunia by the hand, pulled her on the broomstick behind himself and took off.

"Aaaarrggggghhh!" she screamed, holding on to her nephew as tight as she could, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Open your eyes, Aunt Petunia!" Harry shouted.

"Come back down this instant, you hear me!" Vernon bawled, shaking his fists at the young Charms professor.

"No way!" Harry yelled back. "Open your eyes, Aunt Petunia!"

The woman gulped and squinted a bit through half-closed eyelids. They were already flying above the lake.

"Don't worry, you can't fall off if you hold tight on to me!" 

She nodded, fearing that if she opened her mouth, she'd be reacquainted with her breakfast. So, she only watched as the lake's surface mirrored their swooping figures, and in the next instant, they were already flying over the little dusty road leading from the castle to the village. Trees zoomed under them, then rooftops came into view and they had arrived at the main street of Hogsmeade. Petunia had to admit that she found the village downright cute with all those thatched houses and pretty little gardens – she hadn't given it a look when she and Vernon had arrived by the Hogwarts Express the previous day.

Suddenly they started to descend.

"Are we gonna fall…?" she mumbled, but Harry shook his head.

"Don't worry, we are just having a stop."

Soon their feet touched the ground and the young man helped her off the broom. For a second Petunia felt instable and stumbled into Harry's arms, then let out a "Wow."

"You liked it, didn't you?" Harry grinned.

"Sort of," she grimaced.

"Come on, I'll buy you a butterbeer then we'll go back to Uncle Vernon – he must be apoplectic with rage…"

He was right. By the time they got back to the school grounds, Mr. Dursley was already tearing his hair and almost attacked his nephew. Indeed, if David hadn't stepped between Harry and Vernon, Harry would have needed to spend a bit of time in the hospital wing again.

"Doooon't do that, Veeernon!" Petunia giggled. "I'm aaall right…hic, really!"

"She's… drunk!" Mr. Dursley hissed, totally scandalised.

"Well, you know… the butterbeer," Harry shrugged. "It seems that three glasses of it are too much for a Muggle…"

After Harry cast an _Anti-alcoholicus charm_ on Petunia, David decided to show the northern tower to his grandparents. Petunia and Vernon were dumbfounded by all the moving pictures and armours, and Vernon almost destroyed the painting of Sir Cadogan, who dared compare Petunia's face to that of his apple-grey pony.

"Not that your little wife Violet looks any better," Harry told Sir Cadogan. "My aunt is downright pretty compared to her!"

Petunia had no idea who this Violet was, and couldn't even comprehend how paintings could get married, or talk and insult, but she was grateful to her nephew. She couldn't really put a finger on it, but somehow she didn't hate Harry with such passion as she used to…

"Ah, Mrs. Dursley!" said a sing-song voice as Sybill Trelawney rounded the corner.

"This is that woman!" Petunia shrieked and hid behind her nephew. "Save me from her, Harry!"

"Don't worry, auntie…" Harry smiled, "I'm sure that Professor Trelawney here only wanted to greet you and tell you that tomorrow you'd be meeting the Grim, but before that you'd be run over by the Hogwarts Express. Right, professor?"

"Well…" the Divination teacher gave him a rather nasty look. "You never considered my subject as anything important, did you, Mr. Potter?"

"Come to think of it… no," Harry grinned.

"I wouldn't be grinning, if I were you," Sybill replied haughtily. "You may not think much of my subject, but it is true magic. The only magic that really counts… besides, someone who has just lost a good friend shouldn't be grinning like this," seeing Harry's raised eyebrows, she continued. "I foretold you, Mr. Potter: _shock after shock, grief after grief… and a terrible, lethal danger at the end._ It has started, with the shock you got when your son got sorted into Slytherin. It continued with the grief over a friendship you lost. And it shall continue… shock after shock, grief after grief…"

"…and the terrible death at the end, yeah, I know," Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, Aunt Petunia, let's get as far from here as possible."

As they left, Sybill looked after them with a haunted expression. "_Why don't you ever believe me, Harry Potter?"_

* * * * *

After Petunia and Vernon had got acquainted with the rest of the castle – and Peeves, to their greatest regret – they could finally leave Hogwarts and take the express back to King's Cross. Harry told them to ask the old guard who used to stand by the ticket barrier to help them get back to the Muggle part of the railway station.

At three p.m., Harry escorted them to the Hogsmeade station (Petunia had insisted that Harry took her there on his broomstick, so Vernon had to walk behind/under them, giving his nephew 'I'll-get-you-for-corrupting-my-wife-and-making-her-like-this-rubbish'-stares.)

As the train left the station with the Muggles onboard, Harry couldn't help but feel relieved. This little Dursley-visit to Hogwarts had been absolutely unexpected, although it had also given him a bit of fun. He had started to have the feeling that Petunia wasn't that terrible a person he used to remember her being… perhaps it was true that love could change you to the better – and Petunia's love for her little wizard son had truly changed her. She had not only grown to love flying, but she had seemed to like the moving and talking paintings, too. According to Mrs. Figg, she had no one to talk to all day when Vernon was at Grunnings – no one but a stupid parrot. So, Harry decided that he'd surprise his aunt with a wizard painting for Christmas.

Thinking of Christmas – it wasn't that far away at all, only seven weeks. By that time, hopefully he, Ginny and the kids would have made themselves comfortable in their new house.

Harry stopped in front of the house they had bought from the Sanders – it was now empty, the former owners had moved out a week earlier. But it wouldn't stay empty long – the Potters were going to move in during the weekend. He couldn't wait to spend a bit of time with Ginny again – at the Halloween ball all he had been able to do was dance with her and hold her a bit, but he had had other things in mind as well… especially now that they didn't need to worry about Ginny getting pregnant again.

As he was standing in front of the house, his gaze fell on the neighbouring house to the left that looked very similar to the Potters'. *Ah, the Malfoy residence,* he thought, making a grimace. *It seems that good old Draco's taste is quite like ours. I wonder how we'll get along with him as our neighbour…* he saw a petite blonde figure coming out of the house to the right. Gabrielle Delacour. So, she was their other neighbour… he had been told by Ginny about Draco and Gabie's little disagreement during the Halloween party… *It seems we are going to play the role of the lightning-rod between Malfoy and Miss Delacour… not to mention that the relationship between Malfoy and us won't be rosy, either. Hm… well, that belongs to the future. To the near future, though…*

* * * * *

"Too bad my great-aunt and uncle left," Daniel pouted over dinner. "They were having so much fun…"

"You mean _your father and cousin_ were having so much fun," Gilda corrected him.

Dan shrugged. "Yeah, possible. Anyway, how are you feeling? Are you over the shock…?"

"What shock?" Norbert asked, munching a pumpkin pasty.

"Oh… sorry," Dan shot the girl an apologising stare. He had forgotten that it was supposed to remain a secret.

"Well… I suppose I could tell you, too… you're also my friend," Gilda whispered and beckoned young Malfoy closer. "Someone cast _Imperius_ on me during the party and then wiped my memories!"

"No!" Norbert's eyes widened. "How dare they?"

"Dunno… but they did it," she replied. "Fortunately my grandpa is a memory-back-lurer and he managed to retrieve the lost memories, so I could tell Dumbledore what happened."

"You have a memory-back-lurer for a grandpa? How cool is that!" Norbert said admiringly. "And what did he help you remember?"

"Imagine… I was forced to give Snape some note and pour something into Professor Potter's and Professor Lupin's drinks!"

"What?" Daniel seemed just as dumbstruck as Norbert. He had known that Gilda had been memory-charmed, but he had had no idea that she had got those memories back. "What happened to dad and Professor Lupin?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. 

"So… if anything happens to those two, say they drop dead, then it was caused by you," Norbert told Gilda.

"Very funny, really," she knitted her eyebrows. "I don't know what that thing I spilled into their drinks was, but they seem to be healthy to me… besides, I was under _Imperius_… you wouldn't…" she turned to Dan, "you wouldn't blame me if something happened to your dad, would you?"

"No, silly," young Potter shook his head. "But I'd like to catch that bastard who did it to you and…" *…and _imagine_ him being in terrible pains,* he added in thought. "By the way… forget that thing about the imagining, Gilda. I was wrong. Lupin froze the spiders, not me."

"Oh… what a pity," the girl seemed a bit disappointed. 

Dan felt an urge to say 'hey, I was just joking, it was me, I'm an Imaginer!', but he refrained from it. He had promised Dumbledore to keep his mouth shut about it and persuade his two best friends that he had been wrong and didn't possess any extra powers. The time would come when he'd be able to tell his friends the truth – but only when he was fully trained. And that wasn't tomorrow.

For the time being, he only thought of his first Imaginer-training that was about to start that very evening. Dumbledore had entrusted Harry (as the only teacher who knew about Dan's talents) to make up something and send Dan into 'detention' for quite a while. He was to serve his 'detention' once a week, in a disused dungeon classroom where he possibly couldn't imagine-break or imagine-explode anything. He couldn't wait to get started.

"Anyway, yesterday evening wasn't that bad after all, was it?" Norbert said, spooning his pudding.

"Well, I couldn't say so…" Dan replied, blushing. "Dad caught me making out with Liu," (here Gilda gasped and turned as white as a sheet), "and now I have to go to detention once in a week to the dungeons."

"You poor one," young Malfoy shook his head. "You barely finished your first detention and you're already on your second!"

"You deserved it!" the girl snapped and left the table.  

* * * * *

_Sunday, 5th November_

"I can't believe this day has finally come!" Ginny sighed happily, leaning into Harry's embrace, staring at the pretty building in front of them. The garden was still full of green plants, given that the autumn had been unusually long and warm with only a couple of storms here and there. The house with the still leaf-covered bushes and colourful flowers in its garden looked enchanting. "Home sweet home."

"Yeah," he smiled. It was a nice feeling to have an own house, really. Never in his life had he owned a house before. With the Dursleys, he had been happy enough to have the cupboard, then the smallest bedroom, and after that he had lived in Sirius' house which was nice and roomy, still _not his_.

This one was his and Ginny's, though. Their things had been transported into the house the previous day and the triplets, Lea and Dinky had already occupied their rooms and were making a cheerful racket that could be heard through the closed windows as well.

"I'm going to prepare lunch, dear," Ginny kissed Harry on the cheek and disappeared into the house. He followed her with his eyes, heaving a dreamy sigh at the sight of her swaying hips. *Oh, get those dirty images out of your head, Potter!* he scolded himself, blushing at the thought that tonight, they'd inaugurate their new, king-sized bed…

"I see you have arrived," a drawling voice came from the garden of the neighbouring house. Draco Malfoy was standing in the flowerbed in a rather baggy-looking green gardening suit and straw hat, with a pair of garden shears in the hand.

"Wow… the high-born Mr. Malfoy is actually… gardening? Dirtying his fine hands?" Harry raised  an eyebrow.

"No way, Potter," Draco grunted. "I've been using a dirt-repelling charm."

"Still… what makes a Malfoy take care of his garden in person instead of ordering a house-elf to do so?"

"Believe it or not, I do think that a bit of movement does good to everyone, even me," Draco replied. "I'm sitting in my bank all week, and I seriously need a bit of movement."

"I believe you," Harry shrugged. "I bet you never got too good marks in Herbology, though."

"Why?" the blonde man scowled.

"Because Professor Sprout would die of fright if she saw how you are holding those garden shears…" Harry stepped to the fence between their gardens to have a better look at Malfoy's flowerbeds. "Not to mention that you are overusing the fertilizer… or is that just your smell?"

"I thought it was yours," Malfoy crossed his arms. "Anyway, how do you know that I'm using too much of the fertilizer?"

"I had to take care of Aunt Petunia's petunias…" Harry said. "I'm an expert on the topic. If I were you I'd cast a strong smell-repelling charm on the flowerbeds, or… you may never know, a nasty neighbour might report you to the Magical Law Enforcement with the charge of tainting the air."

"Threatening me, are you, Potter?"

"No, Malfoy. Just admonishing you to behave nicely… or we'll be making each other's lives a living hell."

"Now you tell me," Draco wrinkled his nose – because of the smell of the fertilizer, or because of Harry's remark, Harry couldn't tell. "And now let me admonish you, too, Potter: if your precious kids make such a racket all the time, then a nasty neighbour _will _report you to the Magical Law Enforcement with the charge of breach of the peace. You have my promise."

"Harry!" came Ginny's voice from the porch. "Come on in, lunch is ready! Oh, hello, Malfoy."

"Ginny… you look as pretty as always," Draco slightly raised his straw hat.

"What were you two talking about so animatedly?" she asked, ignoring Malfoy's compliment.

"Oh, Mr. Charmingly Arrogant Charms Professor here has just been giving me gardening tips," Draco grimaced.

"And Mr. Green-fingers here has been giving me upbringing tips," Harry commented with a grin to Ginny. "I guess we are going to hit it off with our new neighbour… right, Malfoy?"

"Without the shadow of a doubt, Potter."

* * * * *

"So… what about checking on our new bed while the kids are playing outside?" Harry asked with a kinky smile, snuggling his face into Ginny's neck.

"Not now, Harry!" she playfully slapped his hands that had already encircled her waist. "I want to make sure that they don't set anything on fire while we are um… occupied. Be patient for a couple of hours, and I'll be yours," she placed a small kiss on the tip of his nose and Harry was just about to catch her lips in a thorough kiss when the bell rang. They had installed a Muggle bell that the visitors could push on the garden's gate and it rang in the house as well. 

"Are we expecting visitors, honey?" Harry asked, letting her slip out of his arms. "Your parents will only come over next weekend, right? And they'll surely come through the floo-network…"

"One way to find out," Ginny said and opened the door to be able to see the garden gate.

There was a tiny, but rather familiar figure standing there, waiting to be let in.

"Dobby!" 

"Harry Potter, sir!" the house-elf waved happily. "Dobby has come to visit Harry Potter and his family as he had promised. Dobby thinks that Harry Potter and Ginny Wheezy have a good taste – the house is very beautiful."

"Thanks, Dobby," Ginny smiled as Harry opened the gate with a flick of his wand. "We were just about to have lunch. Join us, Dobby."

"Oh…" the house-elf went pink, "Dobby has not come to be fed, Miss Ginny, but…"

Before he could finish his sentence, a small squeak came from the door. The Potters turned around to see Dinky standing behind them, blushing furiously. "Dobby…" she mumbled.

"Oh, I understand," Harry hid a grin. "Come in, Dobby, and have lunch with us. Ginny and Dinky have cooked something delicious, judging by its smell…"

* * * * *

"Dad…"

"Yes, dear?" Harry turned to little Lea after lunch.

"What happened to Dinky?"

"Well…" her father glanced over at the elves cuddling in the corner and had to fight down the urge of laughter, "they are… talking, you know…"

"But what are they talking about?" she asked, looking at Harry with her huge green eyes.

"Sex, what else?" interjected Richard, who was just loosening some screws on the Muggle aeroplane that he and Robert had received from Uncle Dudley for last Christmas.

"What is sex?" Lea asked, her eyes showing even greater curiosity than before.

"It's…" Richard began, just to be silenced by a shut-up-sort-of-look from his father.

"I forbid you," Harry said, then turned to his little daughter. "You know, honey, Dinky and Dobby like each other very much… it is possible that they will get married some time…"

"…yeah, and make cute little elves…" Rose added, sticking a pin into her favourite woodoo doll's stomach.

"But how do they make little elves, dad?" asked Lea.

"It seems you'll just have to tell her," Rob grinned, helping his brother take the aeroplane apart. 

"I think Lea should go to bed," Harry said.

"But I'm not sleepy, daddy!" she protested.

"Oh, yes, you are," he replied. "Every good little girl gets drowsy and takes a nap after lunch, sweetie."

"Who said I was a good little girl?" the youngest Potter asked with the most innocent expression imaginable.

"Your sister should be kept away from you three," Harry scowled at the triplets. "You are corrupting her."

Harry had to promise Lea three huge Honeydukes chocolate bars to make her forget about the topic of 'little elves'. Dobby left around six p.m., but promised Dinky to be back soon.

* * * * *

"You haven't even told me about Dan's first Imaginer training session," Ginny told her husband as they walked upstairs, hand in hand.

"Oh… he said it was okay. Dumbledore chose a disused dungeon classroom for the purpose, so that Dan wouldn't ruin anything by mis-imagining things… He said he had been given an easy task, he had to imagine a match turning into a pin. You know… just like in Transfiguration, but without a wand. According to Dumbledore, he managed to do it quite quickly – after having turned the match into a hedgehog and a veloci raptor, he succeeded…"

Ginny gave him a smile. "I'm so happy about Dan, Harry… He has always had an inferiority complex because he was never as talented as the rest of the family… now he might turn much more talented than any of us."

"Yes… but it scares me a bit, you know…" he turned to her to look into her eyes. "He has such a great power that he cannot control… it can lead him in the wrong direction… he could become… _evil_."

"Don't even say anything like that, Harry!" she pleaded. "Our son is a good boy, and can't turn evil. He is so much… so much like you."

"I'm not perfect either, Ginny," he sighed. "Remus and Malfoy were right… sometimes I'm conceited… arrogant. And I fear that Daniel has inherited both qualities… only in a larger amount."

"How could you be conceited?" she frowned. "I know no one who is more generous and selfless than you are."

"Selfless? You mean the three wishes?" he shook his head. "That was not selflessness, just a bit of realism. I had been conceited already then… remember what terrible things I told you when I got my youth back, but not my powers… I practically chased you into Malfoy's arms because I couldn't accept the fact that I was not the 'great' Harry Potter anymore… what is this if not self-conceit?"

"It's stupidity, that's what it is," she replied and pulled his head down to hers, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. "You can be really stupid sometimes, Harry, but I still love you… and don't worry about our son. Dumbledore will teach him to control his powers, and he won't turn a second Voldemort. He won't use his powers for wrong purposes…"

"You have persuaded me," he smiled. "Um… you haven't told anyone about Dan's talents, have you?"

"Of course I have not. No one but you, me and Dumbledore know, and none of us is a gossip. By the way… Dumbledore said you had to give Daniel 'detention' so that he could train without waking others' suspicion. What have you brought up against him? I'm really curious…"

"Ehm…" Harry's cheeks coloured a bit, "I gave him detention for making out with Liu Chang in a bush."

"What?" she gaped. "Did he… did he really…?" 

Harry nodded.

"Like father, like son," she made a playful grimace.

"That's not true!" he protested. "I never even kissed Cho!"

"But in thought you surely did… given that she was the first girl to make you have a…"

"Okay, okay, yes, I did!" he laughed. "I did have fantasies about her, but all teenage boys do…"

"You don't need to make excuses…" she pulled him closer with one hand, while opening the door to their bedroom with the other. "I don't want to hear any excuses tonight…" 

"I understand, milady," Harry grinned. The kids had been sent off to bed after dinner and nothing could prevent him anymore from trying the new bed with Ginny.

Almost nothing…

They had already stripped and slipped into the bed when some terrible noise caught their ears.

"What on Earth…?" Harry fumed, getting up and peering down into the garden. At the gate there was a little figure (that Harry supposed was Dobby although he didn't see well without his glasses) standing, holding an accordion and singing something that must have been an old elven love song. 

"Dobby?" Ginny raised an eyebrow, stretching on the bed sensuously. "He said he'd be back soon, but I didn't expect him to be back _this _soon."

"Neither did I," Harry shook his head in an amused way. "Never thought that elves could be… just like us, you know… I mean… in love and everything. This reminds me of Aberforth giving McGonagall serenades early in the morning. At least Dobby is doing it at the right time. Well, not _exactly_ the right time," he added, hungrily sizing up Ginny's gloriously naked body.

"What about a silencing charm?" she suggested.

Harry nodded and started groping for his wand in the dark. Although there was a crescent moon, it didn't give enough light for him to find it at once. Once he found it, he pointed it at the window and said _Quietus_, then turned to his wife to see that she was eyeing him in a rather peculiar way.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just looking at you," she whispered.

"That's fine, but…"

"You look gorgeous, wearing nothing but a wand…" her comment made him blush. "Oh, Harry… after thirteen years of marriage I can still make you blush?" she giggled as a stripe of the moon's light illuminated his face. He shrugged with an embarrassed little smile as she held out her hands for him: "C'mere, my sweet liquorice wand…"

"As you wish, madam," he put his wand on the bedside table to join her in the bed. "You know what? Somehow I have the impression that this silencing charm isn't effective on house-elves…"

"You might be right," she said. They were still hearing Dobby, only in a bit muffled sort of way. "Although I don't know this song, I'm quite sure that he's singing totally out of tune. But if that is what Dinky loves… let them be happy."

"Yeah… let them," he nodded and started nibbling on her right ear. "And let us be happy as well."

"Okaaay…" she laughed and kissed him fiercely. Before they could really get down to 'business', an angry voice shouted from the neighbouring house 'shut up, you sodding bastards!'

"Damn it," Harry punched the pillow. "It seems we aren't getting any tonight," with a sigh he pulled on his dressing gown, put on his glasses and opened the window-panes.

"You shut up, Malfoy! Don't you see that Dobby is just giving our house-elf a serenade?"

"Then tell him to stop this caterwauling and beat it!"

"Caterwauling?" Harry yelled back. "This is _music_, if you didn't notice! I for one found it rather pleasant. So did Ginny. Right, dear?"

"Absolutely, dear!" Ginny shouted so that Draco could also hear it.

"Did… Harry Potter and Ginny Wheezy like my music?" Dobby was touched. "Then Dobby is going to sing a song just for Harry Potter and Ginny Wheezy!"

"Stop making such a rhacket, will you?" the window of the other neighbouring house opened and a rather miffed Gabrielle Delacour leant out of it. She was wearing hair curlers and a mask of some green moisturising cream.

"Oh my gosh! The Green Goblin has just jumped out of a Spiderman comic!" Draco smirked. Harry wondered how he could have such good eyes to see Gabrielle from such a distance.

"What?" Gabie asked.

"Muggle stuff," Draco waved irritably.

"Since when are you reading Muggle comics?" Harry asked, now really curious to know.

"Since I got bored of Martin Miggs. Anyway, none of your business, Potter! Just tell the fellow to sod off and let me sleep!"

"Ehm, Dobby…" Harry began.

"Dobby is leaving now, Harry Potter," the house-elf said sadly.

"Listen, Dobby… come back next Saturday afternoon, and then we'll listen to the song you wanted to sing Ginny and me, okay?"

The elf's face lit up a bit. "Does Harry Potter want to hear Dobby's song?"

"Yes, of course," he nodded and watched as Dobby blew a kiss to Dinky who had her room right under Harry and Ginny's.

"Next time, tell me what musical programmes you are planning so that I can prepare!" Malfoy shouted after the elf disapparated.

"You really had to be so rude to poor Dobby?" Harry snapped.

"Stop, you two!" Gabrielle yelled. "And listen to me, Drhaco! As long as ze elf was singing I could sleep… but as soon as you stahrted to 'owl I woke up!"

"Oooooh, sorry, sweetheart, are you going to have dark shadows under your eyes?!?" Draco mocked. "How guilty I'm feeling now!"

"Now shut up, everyone, or I'll curse you!" came a fourth voice from a house over the street.

"Okay, sorry!" yelled Harry, Draco and Gabie in unison, then all of them shut their window-panes and silence fell on the street.

"So… where were we, dear?" Harry turned back to his wife. "Dear? Awww…"

She was asleep. Harry had no idea how she could have fallen asleep while everyone was shouting – maybe it was to be put down to her pregnancy. He tucked her in and kissed her gently on the forehead. "Good night, my angel."

* * * * *

Since the first class on Monday started at 10:30 for Harry, he could have breakfast with his family in their new Hogsmeade home.

"Pity that Sirius insisted on staying at Black Manor," said Rose, pouring an immense amount of ketchup on her sandwich. 

"Yeah, I also miss him," Richard nodded. "Though mum and dad have a bit more freedom now… right?" he shot his parents an impish grin and Robert started to snigger.

"What do you mean?" little Lea asked.

"He means that they can spend more time alone," Rose told her sister. "In their bedroom."

"Rose," Harry gave her an admonishing stare. "Enough of this."

"You're no fun, dad," she pouted and added a bit more ketchup to her sandwich – and her snow-white blouse. "Oooops…"

"I'll have to use Mrs. Skower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover to take that out!" Ginny scowled at her daughter, stuffing the last chunk of the third sandwich into her mouth.

"Mum, you're gonna get fat if you continue like this!" Robert said.

"Then I'll go to Lockhart's beauty salon for a slimming charm. Anyway, you'll have to get used to the thought of me getting fat in a couple of months…" their mother gently caressed her still flat stomach and reached for a new sandwich. "Your brother needs one more of this."

"How do you know it's a boy?" Richie asked, his face smeared with hazelnut cream.

"I don't really know… just feel it," Ginny smiled sweetly and Harry felt his heart melt.

Soon the kids left to play in the garden and Harry followed them out of the house, only to spot Malfoy pruning a bush – a bush that belonged in the Potters' garden!

"What do you think you are doing?" he demanded. "That's my bush!"

"But one of its branches came through the fence, into my garden!" Draco snapped. "I don't want anything in my garden that is yours."

"The same here," Harry nodded, flicking his wand and cutting a flower that jutted through the bars of the fence, into his garden.

"Hey, that was my prettiest chrysanthemum!" Malfoy gasped, scandalised.

"And that was my prettiest… bush!" Harry replied, having no idea what kind of bush that was – bramble, perhaps. It was hard to tell when it had neither blossoms, nor fruit.

"It wasn't pretty at all! It had lice!" Draco growled. "And the lice could have come into my garden from that branch!"

"Not that there aren't any louses in your garden!" Harry replied mockingly, lifting the pink flower off the grass and throwing it back into Malfoy's garden, then turned on his heels and walked back into the house.

Malfoy, who was still clutching the branch he had cut off, flung it over the bars of the fence, into the Potters' garden. 

* * * * *

"You were fighting again," Ginny tutted as her husband entered.

"What if we were?" Harry shrugged. "That stupid git started pruning my bush!"

"Oh, Harry…" she shook her head, laughing. "You two are behaving like little children…"

"No, we aren't!" he protested.

"Oh, yes, you are!" 

"Good…" Harry smiled. "Jesus said you had to be like little children to enter the eternal life…"

"Yes, but he also said 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother and_ love your neighbour as yourself',_" she added sarcastically.

"Then I fear I'm going to rot in hell… loving Malfoy!" Harry shook his head at the absurd idea, feeling surprised that Ginny should be able to quote the Bible. Most witches and wizards never read that book… not that Harry had read it too much... He remembered once or twice dipping into it in the Dursleys' house – Dudley had received a Bible from someone but it was standing on his shelf in his second bedroom, along with the other books he had never opened. The Dursleys weren't religious, the few times they talked about religion was at Christmas. 'See Dudley, the little Jesus was born in Betlehem…' and Dudley would answer 'I don't care about the little Jesus, I want my presents!' The Dursleys weren't churchgoing, too – they only visited the church of Little Whinging at Christmas. Harry had to admit that he hadn't entered a church since he was ten – the last time he had been at one was at the last Christmas he had spent with his foster parents. He had never really cared for all the religious stuff, for two reasons: the first was that the Dursleys weren't into things like this, the second reason was his resentment towards the Almighty… if he existed at all, which Harry sometimes doubted… If there had been a God, then why did he let Voldemort rule over the world? And why did he let Lily and James Potter get killed? Truth be told, Harry was mad at God. Even Jesus had a loving mother and a stepfather who was much nicer than Uncle Vernon… it just wasn't fair in Harry's opinion. So, after dipping into the Bible once or twice, he had never taken that book into hand again – a wonder that he still remembered parts of it.

"You have read the Bible?" he asked Ginny.

"Of course I have. My family's not downright religious, as you know, but we did have a Bible and sometimes I sat down to read into it," she shrugged. "It was never as exciting as a Lockhart book, but… it has its points… I mean… the things it says. Those are good. I take you have also dipped into it."

"Yeah… but I liked _Flying with the Cannons_ more," he grinned. "I must have been baptized, given that Sirius is my godfather, but I don't think that I have been to a church for more than five times in my whole life."

"Then maybe you should visit the Hogsmeade chapel," she suggested. "I've already been there – a nice place. Small and cosy… Vicar Diggle is a pleasant man."

"Diggle?" Harry blinked. "Is he related to…?"

"Yes, he is Daedalus Diggle's younger brother… He's really nice, although he gave me the impression that he likes wine a bit more than a priest should…"

"Honestly… I had no idea that Hogsmeade had a chapel at all."

"It's at the end of the village. A small white building. Your parents got married there."

"What?" his eyes widened. "How do you know?"

"Simple. If you look at their wedding photo, you see that they are standing in front of a door that has a flower-pattern above it. I saw the same pattern over the door of the chapel."

"You made me curious," Harry said. "We'll visit it some time. Say, at Christmas. I've got to go now."

"All right, dear," she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Give my love to Lily and Dan! And try to keep our little Imaginer out of trouble!"

"Easy to say, darling, easy to say."

* * * * *

"Fighting a bit too earhly, aren't you?" said Gabrielle Delacour, standing in front of Malfoy's gate, peering into the garden. She had obviously witnessed the latest Potter-Malfoy disagreement. "Just like two leetle kids!"

"None of your business, how Potter and I are fighting," Draco grunted, dropped the garden shears and smoothed his elegant banker robes. He had just wanted to leave for his bank when he had spotted that branch and immediately had to get rid of it.

"You are enjoying zis," she perceived.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow and shut the gate behind himself.

"Fighting wiz Harry. And I think zat 'e is also enjoying it."

"Rubbish. Why would someone enjoy fighting?"

"'ow should I know zat?" she smiled. "Off to your bank, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Yeah," he nodded, wishing she'd leave him alone. No such luck.

"I'm also heading for ze flohrist's shop. It's in ze same direction as your bank. We could walk togezzer."

"Now you tell me," he grunted.

"Is your bank running fine? No mohre attacks from ze goblins?"

"Yeah, fine. Not that you'd know much about running a bank…"

"On ze contrary, Mr. Malfoy," Gabrielle replied. "Maybe you don't know, but my fazzer is a Muggle and 'as an own bank in Pahris. 'E wanted Fleur to take over ze bank after 'is death, but she just wasn't interested in anything else but beauty rhecipes… So 'e taught me."

"You don't mean that you could actually run your father's bank if he died?" Draco gave her an incredulous look.

"But I do," she said, drawing herself up proudly. "Perhaps I don't look it, but I'm quite intelligent. You men just don't rhegard us women good enough to do zings like zis. Well, I'm 'ere," she stepped to the door of Fleur's shop. "Good-bye, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco stared at her as she closed the shop's door behind her back for quite a while without realising that he was actually staring…

**A/N: **originally the H/G bedroom scene was a little bit racier, but my mum told me to cut it because some of my readers would not appreciate some stuff in there… so I left out things, unfortunately some of the humour also got left out, but… everything for the readers' morals! :))

_Nefertiri:_ I can't promise you that Draco and Norbert would reconcile… perhaps they will, perhaps they won't.

_Wood's secret lover_: yes, I kind of took that line from Spiderman, but I just 'translated' it from Hungarian, because I never saw that movie in English. Did Peter Parker's uncle say the very same words in English? Yes, Rhea is just as nasty as Rita, but hey, I love Rita's character, because she's just as evil a writer as I am! :)) (my mum thinks I'm crazy because I like Rita!)

_Lady Schezar_: no, why would Draco do such a thing?

_Kit Cloudkicker:_ yes, I've raised more questions than I have answered, and even more questions will be raised soon. But don't worry, all of them will be answered by the end, even such little ones like 'why do the Skeeters have it in for Albus?' :))

_rebkos_: are you also related to Trelawney? :)

_Katrina_: why does your brain hurt?

_Sky_: you're also named after that ice cream? LOL! :D

_starheart20_: it's okay that you don't say much as long as you like the story :)

_Houou_: no, there won't be a new heir of Slytherin. The Skeeters won't shut up, of course. Another nasty article coming soon. Mr Bradley isn't possessed. I don't think that anything happened if the heirs of all the four founders were in one room, but they couldn't even be in one room, because Voldie was Slytherin's last heir and he had no heirs when he died.

_X-Tow-Naga_: I hope your exams went well.

_Eclectus_: I didn't want to make Albus be Godric's descendant, because then he'd be related to Harry and I can't imagine Harry and Albus being related. Glad you liked Snape's costume :D

_Altered Emotions Productions_: no, Harry isn't related to Voldemort, because Rowena Ravenclaw died shortly after giving birth to Godric's son and she never had a child with Slytherin. Yes, all the Potter children are descendants and heirs of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

_Altec_: yeah, I deliberately gave Dumbledore's ancestor a name starting with 'A' :)

_VegaKeep:_ yeah, and more trouble's coming.

_Bucky_: okay, no torturing, I'm telling you: Dan and Gilda will get together, don't worry, it never even occurred to me to make Dan get together with Julie. About Cho and the acromantula… LOL, my mum asked why I was laughing so hard ;)

_2Coolio_: no, Voldemort had no children at all.

_AmandaPanda:_ Vernon and Petunia are just there for comic relief, believe me, this story needs some comic, because dark times are coming – _very soon_.

_zzxm_: glad you liked the article, I love writing articles in Skeeter-style :)

_Alexander Phoenix_: well, of course the 'becoming a man' had a reason. Most things that happen in this fic have a reason. 

_Maureen_: why were Gilda's memories erased? Because if they hadn't been erased, she would have remembered the person casting _Imperius_ on her. No, Griselda Grindelwald wasn't the person Albus defeated, she was an ancestor of that guy (I first mentioned her in chapter 36 of TGSaWCS when Harry read the _Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue_). The target of the spider-attack was Snape, not Harry or Lupin. No, there's no reason for Jamie talking so much, I just loved Colin Creevey and C3PO in Star Wars, and wanted to insert a character that behaved like that. Yeah, Dan is likely to end up with Gilda. I deliberately made Dan and Norbert wear 'common' costumes, because I didn't want them to win this competition. You'll understand why later. 

_Red Ridding Hood_: no, this time you DIDN'T review late! What? A girl of your grade is pregnant? How old is she? 15? Oh, my…

_King Jasbon_: of course I have heard about Panama :) And, what is your friend's impression about Hungary? Do you still keep in touch with him?

_Malena:_ glad you think that this part of the trilogy is the best, because that's my opinion, too :) Well, Dan's problem with his cousins will continue, but it won't last for ever, I promise. I'm happy to hear that you find Dan's character amusing and interesting, it was hard for me to make up a character that is a lot like Harry, still a lot unlike Harry.

_sabby_: Dumbledore didn't want anyone to get to know about Dan's powers, that's why he can't tell his friends. Don't worry, Snape isn't in love with a student. I've read some Snape/Hermione fics but in general they repulsed me, I wouldn't write anything like that.

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: no, I don't get that much inspiration from my dreams, there were only two things that I dreamed and wrote into my fics: 1: the Moon Run, 2: Voldemort in a shower cap. But don't worry, I'm not going to write this 'Voldie looking like Mozart and Harry singing the Ode to Joy in French', at least surely not as a sequel. A friend told me to write it as a spoof, so I might, but for the time being I'm working on short outtakes from my fics. The first one is coming around Valentine's Day, it'll be a Ron/Hermione outtake from TGSiHH. After that I might write something about Albus and the goat ;)

_Princess Ginny_: you'll find out who the evil character is in chapter 27, no sooner.

_FireBolt9000_: Snape might be gay. But don't be sure that he is. You may never know when I'm misleading you ;)

_Any last requests_: yeah, and you know what? If I had a copy of _Hogwarts, a History_, I'd definitely read it! Btw, I hope that when Rowling is done with the seven books, she'll write a nice, long, _Hogwarts, a History_ for us :)

_C-chan_: Gimli/Sauron? Gosh, you have no idea how much I was laughing when I imagined it! :)) It seems that no one besides me likes Rita… why? *Agi pouts, while her mum tells her that she's being crazy if she likes a person like Rita.* But I'm a lot like Rita – I love writing, and I love writing evil things! Rita and I could be great friends! I found only one of the Latin phrases you mentioned: "to make a copy" = describo/transcribo. The other two would need a real Latin knowledge, not just a dictionary.

_heavenly182angel_: glad you liked the Imaginer stuff. You know, I never even though it through that Albus and Aberforth, heirs of Hufflepuff were in Gryffindor and Slytherin… good that you pointed it out! (not that it'd change anything in the story, but it's funny that it never occurred to me that I put a Hufflepuff heir into Slytherin:)

_ruffled owl_: thanks :)

_Myr Halcyon_: glad you didn't find any awkwardness in the last chappie. Heh, I also loved my dream! But a couple of days later I had another, nasty dream about HP: Harry was dead and Hagrid built a huge mausoleum for him, but it wasn't made of stone, but of fir trees.

_Wizzabee_: no, Cho isn't the heir of any of the founders. She has only Asian ancestors, I think. I'm glad that your friends like my fics, too :))

_Toby Haine_: *blushes* thanks, Toby. You took your time to gather all those things, huh? Btw, did you get my latest mail?

_goldenstar555_: yeah, hopefully Bert won't freak you out later in the story. Or will he? Hm…

_nimacu_: yes, I think that Rowling is likely to make Harry be the heir of Gryffindor. 

_The Millenium One_: why does everyone – you included - blame Bradley, huh?

_Romina:_ glad you liked my recommendations. Leila B is a really talented author. She's a thirty-something year old Austrian historian, did you know? I exchanged some mails with her and she told me.

_Prongs_: what will be happening to Dan? Hm… weird things, trust me, weird things. 

_Inken_: I know that making Harry be the heir of Gryffindor is cliché, that's why I added a bonus: made him be Ravenclaw's heir, too, because that's not cliché. Anyway, in my story Harry being Gryffindor's heir will actually _have_ a role – a big role, while in most fics the author just throws in 'and by the way, Harry, you're Gryffindor's heir', but doesn't make it have an impact on the story. In this one it will be of crucial importance. No, how could Sal Slytherin be the greatest enemy? He's long dead. And yes, Daniel told the truth about Liu.

_No Longer a Long Wolf_: wow, did my stories inspire you to write? *Agi's grinning madly* 

_LilGinny_: which new pic of mine did you see on GTnet? The Ron/Hermione one, or the Third Task? Btw, I've drawn a pic about the Dursleys, hopefully it'll be up on GTnet soon :)

_Lana Riddle_: thanks :)

_jasper_: can't tell you what's up with Snape and Bradley – not yet, anyway. 

_Bamboo Anime_: why are your school's hallways too bright? Did they get painted white, or what?

_Lavendar Brown:_ no idea what's up with Ruskbyte. I never talked to him, I don't think he knows that I exist at all (although I kept reviewing him for a while…)

_SparkleCharm_: Godric's son was called Godwin, and he lived 1000 years ago, Harry and his kids are Godric's descendants. Yes, Rowena hid her pregnancy with an illusion charm.

_sk8reagle_: thanks, glad you liked it.

_Aimee_: no, you won't get to read excerpts from that diary, but there'll be excerpts from another one, I promise. 

_Punky Poet_: yeah, I can imagine how much you laughed when you thought of Snape in Neville's grandma's outfit when that director told you about that villain disguising himself as a woman ;)

_Katie Bell_: once I also took a Star Wars quiz, but not on emode, and according to that I'm Wicket, the ewok. My mother, too, which is strange. I'd rather be C3PO ;)

_Tyleet_: I've seen your online journal and laughed so hard when I saw the pic of Dan Radcliffe and the text under it: "my future husband". LOL! But you're wrong… he's _my_ future husband! (aren't I a paedophile? ;)

_Kristen Michelle_: glad I could make you laugh, hehe, I wanted poor Dan to feel embarrassed ;)

_apple-pie:_ the Snape-Bradley line will get even more interesting soon :D No, the Dursleys won't have a real role in the fic, they're just in here for comic relief. 

_Kamatazi Yumi_: no, Desideria the goldfish' unwillingness had nothing to do with Imaginers. You said you were an utter sap and liked things that made you sniffly. Well… chapter 16 won't be really sappy, it will be rather tragic and sad. Yeah, the test-reader was Hungarian, but it wasn't my mum, it was an email-friend of mine whom I have never met, but she thinks highly of my fics and even started to translate my first one into Hungarian! 

_Shadow Child_: glad you liked it :) Do you also have to make up for the 'lost' lessons when you have a bomb threat?

_Elfangor19_: glad you liked it! Nice to see you again :)

_JenniferW:_ I'm delighted to hear (read) that you love my fics so much, and that I've managed to change your views of Harry/Ginny :) Quite many people have told me that I have made H/G shippers of them ;) I'm always so happy if I get to know that I have some mature readers as well. I'm glad you think that putting Dan in Slytherin and making his cousins turn on him is a nice change from most stories. I know what you mean: most fics put Harry's kids into Gryffindor because their authors don't dare to put him/her into Slytherin. I never even considered putting Dannie into Gryffindor, it would have been way too cliché. Yes, you misspelled Liu's name ;) Exactly as you said, Albus fears that Dan's powers could be used for bad, that's why he wants Dan to keep it a secret. I usually update once a week. Thanks for the lovely reviews!

_Waldomier_: yes, as I have told another reader, I was aware that what Albus said sounded a lot like that part from Spiderman :) I love the Spiderman movie (strange that at first I didn't even want to watch it, and then my friends talked me into watching it, and I simply fell in love with it!)

_Lupin's Angel_: glad you found the Skeeter article funny :)

_Indigo Ziona_: yes, of course Minerva's nice to Julie, she does have a heart :) Glad you liked Skeeter's article, I had so much fun writing it! (I like being evil, you know ;)

_amazing typo_: no, Remus won't find out about the Imaginer thing, and even if he finds out, it'll be after this story ends, so I won't show how it happens.

_Laina_: well, Gilda and Norbert might get to know about Dan's powers… some day…  So you liked the Skeeter article? :)) There'll be another one soon!

_rodhrrypttr_: I cannot promise you that… but I can promise you that at the end, you WON'T be disappointed about it.

_Inigma:_ glad you like my fics! And thanks for commenting on my second one! :)

_Autumn Dreams_: no, you're on the wrong track.

_MiST_: thanks for the appraisal, you made my day! :D Was this update quick enough? 

_Harrysgirl_: well, did you like Petunia and Vernon's stay at Hogwarts? I tried to make it hilarious, because from the next chapter there won't be too much to laugh at :( Yes, Snape's getting a bit nicer, but not TOO nice :) No, Voldie had no descendants. 


	15. Harry the rednosed reindeer

**Author's note in April, 2005:** this chapter, as many others in many of my fics has been reuploaded since it had lyrics in it that I had to delete (and I didn't trust ffnet's quick-edit).

**Chapter 15**

Harry, the (red-nosed) reindeer 

The next few weeks until Christmas were spent in the fervour of buying presents and owling friends. Daniel was pretty excited to spend the first Christmas in the new house that he hadn't even seen yet, given that first years weren't allowed to make trips to Hogsmeade and he and his friends couldn't use the secret passage to the village anymore, because on the 10th November Ginny had re-opened Honeydukes, and she would have surely noticed her own son stealing out of the cellar…

Up till now, Dan had always been looking forward to the holidays because of the presents he got, but not this year. This year should be special - new house, guests and everything… yes, the Potters were to have guests for Christmas - Hagrid, his wife Olympe and their daughter Titania were coming for a visit from France.

Daniel's cousin Yvette badly needed to talk to someone who spoke French for a change and hoped she'd have an opportunity to meet Titania - she wanted to discuss the new Parisian mode with her. Yvette had visited France on several occasions with her mother Fleur, and in Great Britain, she always kept complaining about the lack of refinement of the people's manner and fashion-sense. Daniel, of course, didn't want to have discussions about France with Titania, especially because the girl was already twice as tall as he was, although she was one year younger.

Viviane and Valentine were about to spend the holidays at Hogsmeade, given that their parents lived there, and Daniel was downright annoyed by the fact that his parents had invited Ron, Hermione and their kids over for celebrating. Dan somehow didn't feel like having the twins over on Christmas day. The only thing that gave him a bit of satisfaction was that the twins weren't happy about this, either. They had allegedly complained to Hermione and tried to persuade her not to celebrate Christmas together with the Potters, but the Potter and Weasley parents seemed to have decided to make their children reconcile and couldn't be dissuaded about having a 'big, happy Christmas get-together'. Daniel seriously doubted that Christmas would be so happy with his enemies so near, but what could he do? He wished he were an advanced Imaginer - then he might have stood a chance to imagine spending the holidays far away from Viv and Val. But he was just a fledgling one, at the very beginning of his training. Not that he wasn't learning fast - still, he wished he were able to learn faster.

Well, at least Kevin and ickle Lance weren't about to pay the Potters a Christmas visit with their parents - that was something to feel a little bit happy about.

Gilda Lockhart was to spend the holidays with her grandfather in Egypt and was constantly talking about camels she'd ride and palm trees she'd climb. 'Just make sure that you don't fall off… I won't be around to save you again,' Dan had told her once.

As for Norbert… he seemed to be destined to stay at Hogwarts as the only Slytherin. His parents were away on some mission and there was no way he'd agree to stay at Draco's house. "I'll be fine in here, don't worry about me," he told his friends. "Really. Ivo and I'll be having fun," he patted the back of his raven with a feeble smile.

"I just cannot let you stay here alone," Dan shook his head. "I'll ask dad to let you come and stay in our house."

Norbert looked up, surprised. "You'd ask your father? Oh, Dan… how generous of you," he really seemed to be touched. "But that's not a good idea. Your dad doesn't like me. No, don't try to persuade me that he likes me, because I know that he doesn't. How could he? I'm a Malfoy, after all… I cannot even blame him, knowing how much he hates my brother."

"Hey," Dan grinned. "I'll tell him how much you too hate your brother, and then he'll realise that the both of you have something in common, and will start to like you!"

"Do you think it could work?" Norbert gave him a despondent look.

"It has to," Dan grinned. "Or I'll threaten him to tell mum that he still has something for this Cho…"

"You'd even blackmail him for me? You're a true friend… and a true Slytherin," young Malfoy smirked.

"Of course he wouldn't!" Gilda scowled at the boys. "You wouldn't blackmail your own father, would you, Daniel?"

"If I had to…" Dan grinned, but seeing the shock on her face, he had to laugh. "Just kidding."

* * *

As December came, the long and warm autumn suddenly ended and one night winter sneaked onto the Hogwarts grounds, covering them with a thick white layer of snow, filling everyone with Christmas spirits. Aberforth Dumbledore had built a little, warm house for Angel, the baby unicorn. Mr. Bradley had a lot to do, because the students kept entering the castle with feet wet with snow. Strangely, you couldn't hear him complaining like Filch had done all the time. He only seemed to worry about the Chemistry lessons he was giving Snape and the Potions lessons he was getting in return. And of course he was also worried about Snape's health, because Severus didn't manage to heal as quickly as Madame Pomfrey had expected. He was paler than usual. While Bert was worried about Severus' health, Daniel started to worry about Snape's sanity (or lack thereof), because one day before Christmas, the Potions Master had appeared for his last-of-term class with his hair washed.

All the Gryffindor and Slytherin students had gasped when they had caught the first glimpse of him and hadn't even paid attention to his lecture during the class - they had had to discuss the sensational event.

"What got into him?" Norbert leaned to his friends.

Gilda didn't reply, just gaped at Severus and accidentally spilled a bowl of slugs into her Super-Soft-Sock-Washing Solution.

"I fear he's gone mad…" Dan whispered. "Or…"

There was a knock on the door and the caretaker entered. "Good morning, Professor. May I borrow '_My true love - Potions_'?"

"Certainly," Severus nodded and Dan didn't know whether he had seen it right, but Snape's usual pallor seemed to have been replaced by a slight pinkish hue… but maybe he had just imagined it. Imagined - but not _that way_, of course…

Bert Bradley snatched up the aforementioned book from Snape's desk and headed for the door, but before he exited, he suddenly turned around. "Professor… what happened to your hair?"

"Um… well, you know…" Snape seemed to be even more embarrassed.

"I like it," Bert smiled.

"It's just for Christmas…!" Snape called after him, but he had already left. "What are you staring at like that?" he barked at the students. "Haven't you seen a man with a new hair-do?"

"We have… just not you," Kevin Weasley said. Daniel burst into laughter, and for a second the two boys' eyes met, but Kevin looked away immediately.

"As if it was a new hair-do…" Lavinia Flint whispered to Norbert. "He just washed it, nothing else."

"For him it must count as new," Iago Rosier added with a snigger. "I just wonder what made him wash his hair?"

"Dunno," Dan shrugged, although he felt that he actually knew the truth… It wasn't about Christmas. And the correct question wasn't '_what_ made him wash his hair?', but rather '_who_ made him wash his hair?'. And Dan also knew the answer: a certain caretaker.

Oh my. Poor Snape.

No.

Poor Mr. Bradley.

* * *

_24th December_

One day to go till Christmas. Since it was Saturday, the Hogwarts Express had taken most students back to King's Cross the previous afternoon. Only six students stayed at school, and Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy wasn't among them.

Sitting in front of the living room fireplace, staring into the flames dancing in it, Harry still couldn't believe that he had consented to have a Malfoy over for the holidays. About two weeks ago, his son had come to him with an extremely suffering expression and told him how terribly sorry he felt for poor Norbert who would have to stay at the castle, totally alone of all Slytherins if they didn't take him in for Christmas and New Year. On Harry's question why Norbert wasn't spending the holidays with his brother, Dan described the horrible relationship between the Malfoy brothers, and that was what had finally persuaded Harry to say that he'd at least consider the topic. What else would irritate Draco Malfoy more than having to meet his oh-so-hated little brother every single day for a week? Harry had to admit that the idea was rather alluring…

Naturally, he had wanted to discuss the topic with Ginny as well before making a decision, but she hadn't been that hard to convince. Her hormones had made her very sensitive and her heart had begun to ache for that poor boy that'd have to spend the holidays at Hogwarts alone… she hadn't even seemed to care that it was a Malfoy. 'It's just a little boy, who, for the time being, is just like an orphan… the poor thing.' she had said, sniffing. 'Let him come here, everyone needs a bit of caring and love, even a Malfoy… and he can't be that bad if my baby Daniel has closed him into his heart…'

Harry had felt like reminding Ginny that Daniel was no baby at all - on the contrary, he could produce babies if he wanted, but Harry seriously hoped that Daniel didn't want to. On the other hand, he had to admit that Norbert wasn't a naughty boy at all. He never annoyed his teachers at classes and always got good marks. Plus, Daniel really liked him, more than he had ever liked any of his cousins. It was possible that for Daniel Norbert meant the same as Ron meant for Harry, and that was something that Harry had to accept and respect.

He got shaken out of his reveries by little Lea storming into the room with the triplets in tow. "Daddy!" she yelled enthusiastically. "The snow is so wonderful outside!"

"And…? Go and build a snowman," Harry replied.

"We have already built four," Richie replied. "And you know exactly that it wasn't what Lea meant."

"Of course I know… how could I not know?" Harry rolled his eyes. "All right, coming… have you prepared the sleigh?"

"Everything's prepared, dad, all's waiting for you!" Rose replied willingly.

Harry followed his children out into the back garden.

"Where are they going?" Norbert turned to Daniel, stopping their snowball-fight for a second. "Oh, just the usual," Lily replied and, using Norbert's momentary relapse of attention, hit him on the neck with a huge ball of snow. Norbert dusted off his winter cloak, laughing, and Lily had to admit that the boy wasn't that horrible at all.

"Um… what do you mean by 'the usual'?" he asked.

"Come with me and see for yourself," Mrs. Potter exited the house in a blue coat and fluffy earmuffs. "Come and join, all of you!"

Norbert shrugged, having no idea what was going on, and followed the others into the back garden, only to see Draco using a saw-charm on a huge pine-tree in the neighbouring garden.

"Hullo, brother," he greeted the blonde wizard, who was so occupied with trying to sever the tree from its roots, that he didn't notice them at first.

"Norbert?" Draco knitted his eyebrows and stopped his work, although the charm had almost cut through the trunk. "What are you doing here?"

"For the time being, I'm shouting 'timber!'" Norbert said and pointed at something behind his brother's back.

Draco turned around to see that the pine had begun to fall, and quickly jumped aside. The tree fell onto the snow with a loud thud and broke several bars of the fence between the two gardens.

"Put my fence right at once, Malfoy!" came Harry's voice from the neighbourhood.

"Or else you'll report me to the Magical Law Enforcement with the charge of trying to dement the snow in your garden by using a pine-tree?" Draco mocked, but flicked his wand and said '_Reparo_' as well, then turned to Norbert again. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter were kind enough to have me for the holidays, because they knew that otherwise I would have had to stay at Hogwarts. They took pity on me, you know."

"No one is entitled to take pity on a Malfoy!" Draco grunted. "You will never learn the sixty-six sacred rules of the Malfoy family, will you? This is number 13."

"Not much of a chance that I'll spend my time swotting stupid rules," Norbert grinned. "Well, I've gotta go now. Have a very merry Christmas, Draco… as merry as it could be for someone who's celebrating it alone. Oh, and don't expect any presents from me."

"Don't expect presents from me, either," Draco replied, then lifting the pine with a levitating charm, disappeared into his house.

Norbert joined the Potter family in the back garden to see them surrounding a sleigh with a friendly reindeer standing in front of it.

"Where's your dad?" Norbert asked Daniel, who gave him a grin.

"He's here."

"Where?"

All the other Potter children and Ginny were giggling, and little Lea kept pointing at the reindeer.

"Is that…? WOW. An animagus," young Malfoy said admiringly and stepped closer to the animal. "He even has a lightning-shaped tuft of hair… how cool."

"Get in, all of you," Ginny pointed at the sled. It was a sled considerably smaller than Aberforth's, but with a nice expanding charm, you could make it cosy for eight people.

"Is he… going to pull us?" Norbert gaped as he took place in the sled between Dan and Lily.

"Just watch this!" Ginny jerked the reins and the sleigh took off.

Little Lea squealed with delight, and the triplets waved at the dumbfounded people on the Hogsmeade streets.

* * *

"I thought only Aberforth Dumbledore owned a sleigh here," said vicar John Diggle to McGonagall, who was walking with Julie. "And who's this charming little lady, eh?"

"She is Julie, my husband's great-granddaughter," Minerva said. "We are buying last-minute presents for her parents. Come, dear, we've got a lot to purchase for your mummy and daddy… and I haven't got anything for Aby yet… you can help me choose something."

"All right, granny," the little girl smiled.

"_Granny_? You have just called me granny?" Minerva gasped.

The little girl cringed. "Don't… don't you like it? Because if you don't, then I'd just call you Professor McGonagall or Minerva…"

"Oh…" Minerva shook her head. "I do like it, dear. You have no idea how much I wanted to hear someone call me mummy… and if I couldn't get that, at least I have someone calling me granny."

"Good," Julie grinned. "Will we also go on grandpa's sleigh to my parents tonight?"

"Of course we will," McGonagall nodded. She had never loved those rough sleigh-rides she had to endure on Aberforth's side - she thought that Harry-the-reindeer must be much more easy to control than her husband's eight 'devils'.

Julie guided her 'granny' into a shop to buy some presents for her parents and school friends.

"Oh, how cute!" Minerva pointed at two small porcelain yeti-figures embracing - a male and a female (the latter had a tiny pink ribbon in its fur). Since the Durmstrang adventure, she had grown to like these animals.

"Oh, they're really cute!" the little girl said. "I'm going to buy them for my best friend, Nellie Oleson, she loves yetis! Her favourite book is _Year with a Yeti_ by Gilderoy Lockhart!"

Minerva did not suspect how touched she and Aberforth would be next morning, finding two pieces of porcelain yetis in their Christmas packages.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Potter-sled swooped out of the village and made a circle over the Forbidden Forest.

"Look, those are centaurs over there!" Rose pointed at three dots among the trees. It wasn't hard to see into the forest at winter when the trees had no foliage. "And those are… yuck, spiders!"

Ginny felt disgusted at the sight of a bunch of acromantulas, and even the sleigh buckled for a second, indicating that Harry didn't like them at all - not even in his reindeer form.

"Werewolves, mummy, werewolves!" squeaked little Lea excitedly.

"Those are not werewolves, just plain wolves, sweetie. Werewolves only appear when it's full moon," Ginny said. Her escape from those wolves in her sixth school year still vividly lived in her memories. "But it's still better to not go any closer… they are hungry. Once, they almost had me for dinner."

"Really?" Robert gaped. "Wow, mum, tell us about it!"

"Later," their mother smiled and directed Harry back towards the village. "We have to hurry back home, because Hagrid and his family will be arriving in an hour."

As they left the area of the forest, Ginny made Harry touch down on the ground, pulling the sled in the snow - he must have been tired out by flying so long. 

As the sled arrived at the Potters' garden, two figures cuddling on the porch jumped.

"Ah, those two again…" Richard grimaced. "They've become totally inseparable lately."

"Two elves in love?" Norbert raised an eyebrow, seeing the blushing little figures.

"Yeah, the female is our servant Dinky," Ginny started, "and the male is…"

"Dobby, I know him," Norbert nodded. "We met him in the school. Hey, Dobby, the 500 days aren't over yet, eh?"

"No, master Devilsmoor-Malfoy," the elf said, looking rather embarrassed. "Dobby is going now. Happy Christmas to Harry Potter and his family!" with that, he disapparated.

"I bet those two didn't wait for the 500 days to end," Dan whispered into his friend's ear, who nodded his agreement.

* * *

Before lunch, the family plus Norbert started to decorate the Christmas tree, using clabbert bladders as little red lamps. Ginny performed a charm that she had learned from Aaron eleven years earlier - a charm that enabled her to use snow in various ways, e.g. turn snow-crystals into sparkling orbs that were resistant to melting. This way, she conjured a series of orbs and snowflake-shaped ornaments onto the Christmas tree, making it look as though a hundred little fairies had been sitting on its branches in their glittering, white-silver dresses. It was simply breathtaking.

Hagrid and his family arrived at half past eleven. After a lot of hugging, back-slapping and 'how great ter see yeh's, Ginny showed the guests to their rooms - Hagrid and Olympe got one room for themselves, but 'little' Titania had to bunk with Lily. And Lily wasn't too happy about the arrangement, believing the other girl to be someone like annoying cousin Yvette.

"Yeh see, I'm so 'appy ter be 'ere," Titania began with a lovely mixture of Scottish and French accent, "Ghreat Britain is such a charmin' country, and me dad grew up 'ere, so I just gotta love it!" She dropped herself on the bed adjacent to Lily's - making the bed creak plaintively under her weight (she must have weighed at least a hundred kilos already, though she was quite slim. She also looked at least four years older than her real age - maybe giants and half-giants were early-bloomers…)

"Uh, I'm happy that you like it here, Tita," Lily said. "Do you play Quidditch?"

"Qhidditch? O' course! Love zat game! But I love 'anging aroun' wiz 'andsome whizards even more."

_I wonder what guys would like to hang around with her. _ Lily thought. _She'd break their bones in a friendly embrace…_ "And… do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes, o' chourse I 'ave," Miss Hagrid replied, as though it had been natural. "'Is name is Francois, and 'e's also 'alf-giant like meself. And yeh? Do yeh 'ave a boyfriend?"

Lily shook her head, blushing.

"But yeh'd like ter 'ave one, eh?" Titiana asked with a grin. "Yeh 'ave a candidate alrheady?"

Lily nodded again, blushing even more. "But he doesn't even notice me, only when he needs help with his homework… he loves my cousin, Yvette."

"Yvette Wheasley? Ah, yes, I know 'er, met 'er once in Paris… a borin' chick, I tell yeh. Can't think o' anythin' else but clothes an' make-ups. I fer one don't like people like 'er."

Lily started to like this girl - she didn't like Yvette! Lily didn't like Yvette either. Yvette had stolen Christopher Wood from her and she was so extremely pretty that it made Lily nauseous… And Yvette was a woman already, while Lily still hadn't started her period yet. This wasn't fair, she kept telling herself. Just not fair!

"I guess we'll be excellent friends, Tita," she gave Hagrid's daughter a grin.

"O' course…" Titania grinned back. "And perhaps I can give yeh some tips ter get yer man…" she added with a wink.

* * *

"Rose, come and take the cutlery!" Ginny called from the kitchen. "Robert, you take the glasses! Richard… um, better if you don't take anything…" she knew her son's tendency for breaking things. Although anything could have been repaired by a swish of her wand, she decided she wouldn't spoil Christmas Eve by shouting Reparo after Reparo.

"Why can't Dinky take all these things?" Rose pouted, grabbing a bunch of forks and knives.

"Because she's not feeling well," Ginny replied. "I have sent her into bed and cooked myself. Come on, Harry, Dan, you take the crockery. Norbert, would you please bring the drinks? Pour a bit of pumpkin juice into the kids' glasses and some champagne into the adults', will you?" All the glasses on the table bore the names of the family-members and guests.

"And me?" little Lea tugged at her mother's sleeve. "I also want to take something!"

"You are too small, dear. Go and talk to Hagrid."

"But muuuuum…" Lea's eyes filled with tears. "I'm not too small… I can do it. Let meeee!"

Children, Ginny thought and handed her youngest daughter the saltshaker that Lea carried so proudly into the dining room as if it were the crown jewels.

"So ickle Dinky's not feeling well?" Norbert smirked at his friend. "Wonder why?"

Dan burst into laughter and headed for the door, balancing a heap of plates.

Lunch was spent in a wonderful mood - everyone was chatting and laughing. Harry thought that he didn't remember when he had felt so happy and carefree for the last time. Once in a while, he cast surreptitious glances at Norbert, but the boy seemed not to notice - he was whispering with Daniel all the time. _Why did I think wrong of this boy?_ Harry questioned himself with a pang of remorse. _It seems that not all Malfoys are bastards._

"So, Hogwarts is exactly a thousand years old this year?" asked Hagrid. "What a shame that I'm goin' ter miss all the fun!"

"You have missed the Halloween party, but you can still come to see the tournament," said Lily, turning a bit pink. "I'll go for the title of Queen of Beauty and Love."

"You? Beauty?" Richard snorted.

"And Love?" Rose sneered. "That Christopher Wood doesn't even know that you exist!"

"But he will!" Lily replied sternly and Titania grinned at her from the other end of the table. The French girl had given her some tips how to get closer to Chris. With a bit of luck, she would succeed.

"An' yeh, Daniel?" Hagrid turned to the boy. "Are yeh also enterin'?"

"I might," Dan nodded.

"What? You said you weren't interested in all this madness," Norbert reminded him.

"I have changed my mind," Dan shrugged, receiving a knowing glance from his father. Harry totally understood the situation: Daniel, who had earlier thought that he wasn't talented enough to enter the tournament, now believed that he might stand a chance, given that he had turned out to be an Imaginer. Harry felt like telling his son that entering the tournament under these circumstances might be a bit unfair towards the other contestants… on the other hand, Daniel had never had an opportunity to feel successful and satisfied with himself before. Why deny him the chance now? Anyway, it was by far not sure that he'd be an advanced-enough Imaginer by the beginning of May, so he might not have such advantages at all.

Little Lea fell asleep over dessert and Harry decided to take her upstairs and put her into bed for a nice afternoon nap.

"Hey, I'll come with yeh!" said Hagrid. "I'll be back soon, Olympe, sweetheart."

"Oh, just go, mon chere," Olympe smiled, "I know zat men need a bit o' time to zemselves… just like we women do, right, Ginny?"

"Yes," Ginny nodded with a faint smile. She wasn't feeling too well. "Children, you may go and play or watch the T.V."

* * *

"A cute baby girl yeh have there, Harry," Rubeus said as they tucked Lea in.

"Oh, yes… she's my little princess," Harry bent down and kissed his sleeping daughter on the forehead.

"All of yer children are nice, but that Norbert…" Hagrid scratched his head, looking for the appropriate words. "He's got a cool first name, really, but… a Malfoy, isn' he?"

"Yes, he is. And?" Harry tried to look as nonchalant as possible.

"What 'an', Harry?" Hagrid looked scandalised. "A Malfoy is a Malfoy!"

"Norbert is not like the other Malfoys. You don't even know him. He's a nice boy. My son's best friend…"

The half-giant gave him an incredulous look. "Yeh don' sound too believable, yeh know that? Yer saying these things, yet not believing them yerself. Yeh don' like this boy."

"I… I don't know what I feel, Hagrid," Harry shook his head. "It's so confusing. When I first met him, he somehow gave me the creeps… Then I got to know that he was a Malfoy and I understood why he had given me the creeps: the inherited Malfoy 'charm' worked on me. Then Daniel told me that he had befriended this boy and I didn't like the idea at all… but his previous friends, the Weasley children, had fallen out with Dan and he had no one else but this Norbert… and Norbert did help him. Stood by him and supported him. As a father, I should feel happy that my son has such an excellent friend."

"Yet yeh don' feel happy," Rubeus perceived.

"No," Harry admitted. "Whenever I look at Norbert, I feel something… strange. Something cold and warm at once. Something in him repulses me, and attracts me all the same. I simply don't know what. The repulsion part must be the fact that he's a Malfoy, but the attraction part is something I can't explain. It's not just that he's my son's best friend. Something else, deep in me, is telling me that the boy is special…"

"Special… in a good or a bad sense?"

"I don't know," Harry shook his head. "And I feel rather silly about it, Hagrid… especially because he's a nice boy, not at all like his brother had been back at Hogwarts… Norbert thanked Ginny and me three times for inviting him for the holidays… he's so polite, and… I was pleasantly surprised that a Malfoy could be like this."

* * *

"Norbert, Daniel!" Titania beckoned to the two boys from a half-ajar door.

"What?" Dan asked, a bit annoyed that he had to stop watching The Weakest Link.

"Come!" Titania waved.

The two boys stood up from the cushioned armchairs, leaving the triplets behind, and entered the pantry where the half-giantess and Lily were waiting for them.

"What do you want? That Muggle program was so interesting!" Norbert drawled. "I wanna go back and watch it. I particularly liked the commentator, that Robinson chick. If she were magic, she'd make a perfect Slytherin."

"Yeh'll 'ave plenty 'o opportunity ter watch zat silly TV show!" said the French girl. "Now yeh 'ave ter help Lily."

"Lily? Now? Why? How?"

Lily blushed. "Maybe we should wait a bit with this, Tita. Let the boys watch the show."

"No way," Titania shook her head, giving the boys a glance that sent them the silent promise of getting punched if they refused to comply. "Yeh two are needed now."

"For what?" Dan frowned.

"I 'ave decided ter teach Lily 'ow ter get a boy," said the French girl. "Tomorrow muzzer and I are leaving for ze Cot d'Azure ter visit my uncle Gerard, so I 'ave ter teach Lily now. And yeh two will 'elp."

"Help? With what?" Norbert frowned.

"Lily 'as ter learn 'ow ter kiss," said Titania.

"To what?" gasped Dan and Norbert.

"Now, now, don't pretend zat yeh don't know 'ow ter do zat…" Titania grinned at Daniel. "Lily told me why yeh 'ad got detention from yer father."

"And?" Daniel growled, blushing.

"Yeh will help me ter present the subject."

"To what?" Dan blinked.

"To kiss her, mate," Norbert said with a grimace.

"No way!" protested Daniel. "You are a foot taller than me and…" he couldn't finish the sentence, because the half-giantess had flung her arms around him and stuck her lips to his. "Uhhhh…" he tried to break free, but the girl's vice-like grip held him in place. His first thought was that this was the most horrible experience of his life, but deep down he couldn't have found it so bad, because he was frightened to realise that all his blood had rushed into one single member of his body…

When the girl finally let him go, he stumbled backwards, gasping for breath.

"Yeh see, Lily, zat's 'ow it's done," declared Titania proudly.

"And do all boys, ehm…" Lily pointed at her brother, turning crimson.

"Not necessairily," the French girl shook her head. "But if zey are mathure enough… atta boy, Daniel!" she slapped him on the back, almost making him fall.

Daniel shot her an angry glance and stormed into the adjacent bathroom.

"We're not allowed to do magic outside Hogwarts, you know. He can't just say _Deminuo_," Norbert winked at Lily, who had no idea what the boy meant.

"An' now, yer turn, Lily," Titania said. "An' zat's where yeh come in, Norhbert."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Yeh've got ter be Lily's study partner."

"_Study partner_? A bit rich to call it a study partner," Norbert crossed his arms.

"Don't yeh want ter 'elp 'er?" Titania pointed at the blushing Lily.

For a second Norbert's eyes flashed in a peculiar way. "All right… I mean it's all right for me, if it's all right for Lily as well."

"Guess so," the redheaded girl shrugged and turned an even darker shade of crimson.

"Zen, what are yeh waiting for?" asked Titi. "Kiss ze girl!"

Norbert slowly walked up to Lily and gently cupped her chin to make her look up at him. Although she was two years older than him, he was at least four inches taller. For a moment he seemed to hesitate, but as she nodded her consent, he tilted his head and inched closer and closer until their lips met in a soft kiss. It did not last longer than three seconds. After they parted, their eyes locked and Lily felt like drowning in those infinite grey pools. "Wow," she whispered so quietly that no one besides Norbert could hear her. Norbert's reply was wordless: he reached out and pulled her to himself and kissed her once more, this time longer and firmer. Lily felt as though time stood still, she wanted to melt into his arms and let him hold her forever…

"Hey, what are you two doing?"

Lily and Norbert jumped, releasing each other, to see Daniel stupidly gawping at them from the bathroom-door, not even noticing that his jeans were just partly zipped.

"We just…" both Lily and Norbert started to explain at once.

"Norhbert was just kind enough ter assist Lily in learhning 'ow ter kiss," Titania replied instead of them. "Now Lily will be able ter use 'er newly acquired knowledge on Christopher Wood."

"Um… yeah," Lily nodded, not daring to meet young Malfoy's eyes.

"So… it was just studying, right? Because to me it seemed to be more," Daniel said, waiting for reassurance from his friend as well.

"Of course it was just studying, Dan," Norbert said, as the triplets' voice outside shouted: '_You're the Weakest Link, goodbye!_'

Lily gulped, feeling that she was the weakest link - her legs felt too weak to support her weight and her whole body was shaking. She stormed past Titania and Norbert, out of the pantry.

* * *

"Don't you think that Lily was unusually silent over dinner?" Harry turned to his wife as they closed the bedroom-door behind themselves.

"I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention, I suppose," she replied in a weak voice.

"What happened, Gin? You look so pale," Harry caressed her cheek. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just a bit tired," she whispered. "Maybe I also got the flu that Dinky is suffering from."

"She has the flu?"

"Very likely," Ginny nodded, stepping to the window. It had started to snow densely, as though a pillow had been torn in heaven and its little feathers were now pouring down onto the ground. "She has been so feeble all day, she even complained about headaches and sickness… so I sent her to bed before lunch. I hope she's feeling better now."

"I also hope so," Harry replied, "but I hope that you won't get ill, too, Love. Lie down, I'll bring you something to drink, okay?"

"That would be nice, thanks," she gave him a small smile and disappeared under the covers.

After having watered her, Harry joined her in the bed, but couldn't fall asleep for a long time. His conversation with Hagrid kept coming into his mind, then Lily's strange behaviour made him worried, and of course Ginny's weakness, too.

After a while, he managed to sink into a troubled sleep that didn't give him real rest. Around half past seven, he woke up to feel just as tired as he had been when going to bed. He reached out to gather his wife into his arms, but she wasn't there.

"Gin?" he squinted, groped for his glasses and padded out into the bathroom. Although the sun hadn't risen yet, the first light of dawn filtered through the window, illuminating the room just enough for Harry to see Ginny's slightly hunched figure standing in the middle.

"Gin?" he called out to her. "What…?"

Her body seemed to tremble, and - though Harry could not see her face in the darkness -, he was sure that she wasn't quivering with cold…

In the next instant, the sun appeared on the horizon, sending its first rays into the house and engulfing Ginny's body in its brightness.

Harry froze at the sight: his wife was holding the hem of her flower-patterned nightgown, her face turned slightly downwards as she stared at a trickle of blood coursing down her legs and joining the pool that had already gathered around her slippers.

"Ginny…"

She slowly lifted her head to look into his eyes and he saw that her face was soaked with tears. "Harry…" she croaked, "Harry… I have… I have… lost the baby."

With two long steps, he crossed the space between the two of them and closed her trembling body into a firm embrace. She felt so small and thin in his arms, so fragile… he feared he'd break her if he hugged her tighter… so he just held her, gently and comfortingly, letting her rest her head on his shoulder and wet his T-shirt with the stream of her tears. She grasped the back of his shirt and just sobbed and sobbed. He carefully stroked her hair while a single tear found its way down his cheek. It had been his child as well… His heart wrenched at the loss as five or six voices began to sing outside, making the street ring with Christmas carols.

**Author's note**: here was originally the song 'Joy to the world' that got deleted. You can read the full version in my yahoo group. 


	16. Shock after shock, grief after grief

**Author's note in April, 2005:** this chapter, as many others in many of my fics has been reuploaded since it had lyrics in it that I had to delete (and I didn't trust ffnet's quick-edit).

**Chapter 16**

Shock after Shock, Grief after Grief

Harry had experienced several sad Christmas days in Privet Drive, but those had only been sad for him because he had had to spend them with the terrible Dursleys. Ever since he had first gone to Hogwarts, his Christmas holidays had been wonderful, full of laughter and joy. This year was different. This year, there was nothing to celebrate.

What did people celebrate at Christmas at all? The birth of Jesus? Harry just could not bring himself to think of birth, right when his wife had miscarried. What else did people celebrate at Christmas? Love? For the time being, Harry's heart felt as empty as though he weren't capable of feeling love at all.

What was Christmas about, then? For the Potters, this year it was about shock and grief. How ironic… Sybill Trelawney would be rejoicing if she knew that her prediction seemed to have come true.

"Damn you, Trelawney!" Harry picked up a snow-covered piece of stone and threw it at a nearby tree with all his power, making the tree's thin trunk shudder and snow fall off its branches.

"Hey, that's my tree!" called an indignant Draco Malfoy from the neighbouring garden. "It isn't its fault that you're angry with that old rook!"

"Sorry," Harry sighed.

"What? Did I hear well?" Malfoy gaped. "You actually said 'sorry'? Are you sick, Potter?"

"No. Just got carried away by fury and bitterness… I'm sorry, Malfoy," he hung his head.

"Hey… something bad happened, eh?" Draco asked. "It's written all over your face. What happened… if you don't mind telling me…"

"Ginny lost the baby," Harry replied.

"Oh… I'm sorry," Malfoy said, and he did look sorry. "How is she?"

"How could she be?" Harry grunted. "She lost a lot of blood… she was in the fourth month, and losing a baby at this state is dangerous. Madame Pomfrey is with her; I'm waiting for her to tend Ginny so that I can go in. I want to be with her now."

Draco nodded. "If I can help with anything… prune your bushes now that you have no time for them…"

For the first time since dawn, Harry's mouth tucked into a small smile. "You know what, Malfoy? You are normal again."

"Normal?"

"Yeah. The first time I saw you normal was when you offered me to bury the hatchet at my wedding. Then you turned into the old, annoying Draco. The next time you were normal was when you told me what a git I was at the Durmstrang stall. After that you changed back into your usual arrogant self again… but today I saw your Durmstrang-self again. It's nice to be reacquainted with it, really."

Sirius appeared in the door and beckoned to Harry.

"Gotta go."

"Hey, Potter…"

"Yeah?"

"Say hello to my brother for me. I was rather rude to him yesterday, and… it's Christmas, after all."

"I will, Malfoy," Harry nodded and entered the house.

His children, the Hagrid family, Sirius, Ron, Hermione and their three kids were sitting in the living room, waiting. Sirius had arrived mere minutes after Harry had found Ginny in the bathroom - it was arranged for him to be there for the package opening, but under these circumstances no packages had been opened. All of them lay under the Christmas tree, untouched. So were the stockings, hanging from the fireplace without anyone casting a look at them. The Weasleys arrived at nine - by that time, Sirius had called Madame Pomfrey to Ginny.

The Hogwarts nurse appeared on the top of the staircase and Harry ran up to her.

"How's she?" he asked with a trembling voice.

"She'll recover," Poppy gave the young wizard a small smile. "I gave her sedatives - she needs a lot of sleep."

"She's okay! She'll recover!" Harry called out to the others. Relieved sighs could be heard from downstairs and little Lea squeaked 'Mummy will be okay! Can't we open the presents now?' Hermione hushed the child with the promise that they'd open the packages soon.

"Madame Pomfrey…" Harry turned back to the nurse.

"Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Will she… will she be able to have more children, or…"

"Don't worry, Mr. Potter. She can give you as many children as you want."

"Thank you," Harry beamed. He was very relieved by the news - not that he insisted on having more children, but he_ knew_ that Ginny would want to have at least one more after all that had happened. "May I go in?"

"Yes, of course. But she's sleeping now."

Harry nodded and entered their bedroom. He didn't mind sitting next to the sleeping Ginny for hours on end - he could just sit there and look at her without getting bored of it… and he loved looking at her while she was asleep. She was so beautiful - like Snow White after having bitten into the apple - her complexion pale, almost translucent, her eyes shut, her long, black eyelashes in contrast with her alabaster-white skin… Harry reached out to caress her cheek, sweeping a stray flaming-red lock out of her face. "Everything's going to be okay, my love," he whispered. "Everything will be all right again."

* * *

"Where… where should I put these?" Ron asked from Sirius, showing some parcels he had been clutching all along.

"Just under the tree, I think," Sirius sighed. "There won't be a happy present-opening here today."

"Why not?" Lea pouted.

Ron placed some packages under the tree, then sat back down next to Hermione, who was holding Lea in her lap. "Geez, Hagrid, I'd say it's so good to see you again, but… I didn't expect to meet you under such circumstances…"

"S'okay, Ron," Hagrid nodded. "Nice ter see yeh, too. Yeh and Hermione have wonderful kids," he glanced at Viviane, Valentine and Rupert, who were talking to Titania in the corner. Lily was somewhere in the kitchen, and Norbert stood as far away from everyone as possible. He must have felt that it was family grief that he had nothing to do with. "I heard yer twins are just like Fred and George, only in female form. Is that true, Ron?"

"And how," Ron nodded with a grin.

* * *

"You three!" Sirius yelled at the triplets, who had just sneaked into the room from the garden - no one had noticed that they had been out for a while. "Where have you been? Can't you just be good children for one single day? Can't you feel your parents' grief?"

"You are unfair to us, Uncle Sirius," Rose Potter scowled, dusting snow off her jumper.

"We do know that mum and dad are very sad now," Robert said. "And we are also sad. We do have a heart, you know."

"Yeah… we wanted that little brother," Richard added. "Well… not at first, but later we did. It sucks that he died. And just to inform you, we didn't do any mischief."

"Then what were you doing outside?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. He had never heard these three talk this seriously before.

Rose unfolded her scarf that she had been holding in her hand, to show Sirius a flower - a wonderful lilac rose.

"You cut it off?" Sirius gasped. "But you never let anyone touch it, let alone cut it!"

The triplets loved gardening - as long as they were allowed to get themselves as dirty as possible. They had grown a lilac rose that never froze - a rose that had the most wonderful smell of all the roses. They didn't let anyone go near it, not their father, not even their mother.

"We wanted to bring it in for mum," Richie said. "You know that it's magical… it has a cheering smell. And mum needs to get cheered."

"Our heart ached when we had to cut it, but… anything for mum," Robert added. "Can we put it into a vase and into mum's room?"

Sirius nodded, touched by the triplets' decision. There were moments that brought out the best or the worst in people - and this family tragedy seemed to have brought out the best in these three little devils. Sirius made a mental note to tell Harry that his triplets weren't that much of worth-nothings as they were thought to be.

"And now - can we open the presents?" asked Robert.

"Just wait until your father comes down, okay?" Sirius sighed.

* * *

"Daniel…"

Dan looked up from the fireplace he had been gazing at, to see Viviane and Valentine standing next to him.

"What?"

"Look, Daniel…" Val sat down into the armchair facing the boy's. "We are sorry about your mum."

"Really? And why do you say this to me?" he snorted.

"You must think that we are heartless monsters, but we are not. Your brother died, your mother is ill, we are being nasty to each other… and it's Christmas," said Viv. She seemed to have a hard time forcing the words out of her, but she just carried on. "We want to end it."

"End? What?"

"This stupid hostility."

"Do you? Really?" Dan looked into the girls' eyes, trying to read in their expressions. They seemed to be honest.

"Yes. We have been so stupid. Forgive us, Daniel. Forgive us for blaming you because of those house-points, for making you fall off your broom, for laughing at you whenever you couldn't perform a charm… we were such dunderheads."

"Yes, you were," Dan grinned. "But so was I. I forgive you, if you also forgive me."

Val nodded and stuck out her hand, which Daniel accepted. The handshake was repeated with Viv as well.

"Shame that my brother had to die to make us reconcile, girls," he sighed. "I hope you know that our little truce doesn't mean that the fight between Kevin and me is over. It isn't over."

"But it will be," said Valentine. "One day it will be over. Just wait it out, Dan."

"I will forgive him if he comes to me to ask for my forgiveness. There's no other way," the boy replied resolutely.

"Don't be full of hatred, even at Christmas," Viv pleaded.

"It's not me who's full of hatred, but Kevin."

"You are hopeless, do you know that?"

"Yeah," Dan shrugged, then turned around to look for his friend. He wanted to tell him that he had forgiven the twins. But Norbert was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Lily had been in the kitchen all morning, preparing breakfast, although no one felt hungry. Both her mother and Dinky were sick, and she, being the eldest daughter, decided to play the mistress of the house - work might be able to take her mind off a bit of the recent events…

"Hey."

She turned around to see Norbert standing in the doorframe.

"Hi," she said, colouring slightly. The kiss they had shared the previous day still vividly lived in her memories.

"May I help?"

"Well… why not?" she shrugged. "Slice those cucumbers, please, and put them on the sandwiches."

Norbert nodded and started placing cucumber-slices on the buttered bread-slices. "About yesterday…"

"There's no need to talk about yesterday," she shook her head, gazing down onto the kitchen table. "You helped me learn. You were a really good teacher, that's all."

"Teacher? Me?" the boy laughed. "It was my first time as well."

"Really?" she blinked. "You did it too… too well to be your first."

"Don't you believe me?" he gave her an impish grin.

"Should I?" she raised an eyebrow.

"It was my first. That's why it couldn't have been _that_ good… I bet I could do it better now that I have a bit of experience."

"Better?" she gasped. "To me it seemed to be good enough."

"Then maybe this…" he leaned closer to her, "…is going to be even better."

Their lips had almost touched when they heard steps.

"Oh, Lily, I'm sorry about your mother…" said Norbert, stepping back, trying to look as though they had just been having a small-talk. "Ah, Professor Weasley, how are you doing today?"

"As well as anyone could be when her friends have lost a baby," Hermione replied sternly.

The boy nodded. "Sorry, Professor, stupid question. The sandwiches are ready, Lily."

* * *

It was already dinnertime when Ginny woke up. The first thing she saw was Harry's intently watching emerald-green eyes.

"Hi," he whispered with a small smile.

For a minute, her gaze travelled around the room, trying to comprehend why she was in bed when Harry was fully dressed, then it slowly dawned on her and a tear ran down her cheek. Harry reached out to wipe it away.

"Why… Harry?" she asked with a hoarse voice. "Why did it have to happen? Why… why did he have to die?"

"I don't know," he shook his head. "But don't think of it now. Try to stay calm."

"How… how could I stay calm when I have just lost my baby?" her face contorted in a painful way and she started to sob.

Harry gathered her into his arms and rocked her gently. "Shhh… it's okay. It will be okay…"

"But why, Harry?" she sniffed. "When Madame Pomfrey examined me last week she said that the baby was totally all right… Then why did he die? I don't understand… And even if it was inevitable, why did it have to happen at Christmas?"

"Quoting the words of a clever young lady, _maybe it was the will of fate. Perhaps it wanted to test us. To see whether our love was strong enough to bear all this… and it is strong enough,_ Ginny. The love that connects us may create another baby. According to Madame Pomfrey, we can have as many kids as we want."

"But I wanted this one so badly!"

"I know, I wanted it, too. But we'll have other babies, if you'd like to," he placed a small kiss on her cheek. "Just tell me when you want it, and I'll be at your service, milady," he added with a wink.

"Oh, Harry Potter!" she playfully boxed into his chest, "You and your dirty little mind!"

"It's not dirty when you are concerned, Gin," he said with an unaccustomed seriousness, "when you are concerned, my love, I feel pure… my heart and soul feel pure and unspoiled… you know that I have not always been perfect, Gin, you know it better than anyone, but when I'm with you… I feel _good_. With you at my side, I can believe that I'm good… you make me good, my love, and I never thought of our relationship as something dirty, not even when we conceived Lily in a careless moment, not even when we sneaked into Hermione's classroom to make love, never… you and me, this relationship is sacred… blessed. And no matter what happens, we can hold out, together."

"Oh, Harry!" she flung her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder.

"Cry, just cry, it helps…" he whispered, stroking her hair. Suddenly she drew back and wiped her tears with her nightgown-sleeve.

"You said the same at Durmstrang, Harry," she said, sniffing.

"When? I don't remember."

"When I believed you to be dead and you comforted me as an old man… I remember it as though it had been yesterday…"

"See, when I first told this to you, things turned all right… they'll turn all right this time, too. Have faith, Ginny."

"I'll try," she nodded. "Harry… is that the triplets' rose on my bedside table?"

"Yeah. They have brought it for you to cheer you up. Its petals are imbued with a cheering charm and, according to my Herbology studies, this is the only type of flower in the world that has such qualities."

"Awww… how sweet of them," she looked downright touched. "They never even let me near this flower before, and now they cut it off for me?"

"They did, because they love you. And so does everyone else here. We all love you, honey, more than you could possibly imagine."

* * *

"Lily, could I talk to you?"

"Yes, of course, Aunt Hermione… but about what?" Lily asked, though she knew pretty well what was about to come.

"What is going on between you and Malfoy's brother?"

"Nothing."

"I wouldn't say it was nothing, Lily," Hermione said with a scolding expression. "You were about to kiss when I entered. I thought you liked the Wood boy."

"I do like Chris Wood," the girl replied. "And I myself have no idea what happened between Norbert and me. But it didn't mean anything to me."

"I do hope that it meant nothing to you… you know that you need to be careful about jumping into relationships at your age…"

"But Aunt Hermione!" Lily gasped. "Don't give me the talk about the birds and the bees! I know it quite well, thank you. Anyway, Norbert is just eleven! Practically a baby! I don't even think he is a man already! His voice hasn't even broken yet, he's… he's way too young to do anything. And so am I. I'm not a woman yet, either," she said bitterly. "So we couldn't do anything… dangerous. And it's really Chris that I fancy, not Norbert. I'd never fall for a Malfoy, especially if he's two years younger than me. So rest assured that I'm safe from him."

"I hope you are," Hermione nodded. "Well, come with me, Olympe and Titania are saying good-bye to the others."

"Pity that they are leaving. Tita is really nice. French, but so much _not_ like Yvette!"

"Yeah," Hermione smiled. "She's like Hagrid."

* * *

Ginny's mood seemed to have improved a bit over the next two days, but Harry was still worried, knowing that she had a knack of falling into depression. He still vividly remembered her when Daniel turned out to be a squib - she had been totally beside herself with despair and wouldn't eat, wouldn't talk and wouldn't even look at their son. He feared that she'd sink into a similar depression after this trauma. He feared that her current 'good' mood was just another suppression of emotions.

Ever since Christmas day, the triplets had behaved unusually well and even little Lea let her parents have a bit of peace. Lily helped a lot around the house and Daniel occupied himself with Norbert, deciding that it was the best if they weren't under his parents' feet. Daniel had told his friend about his reconciliation with the twins, but Norbert didn't approve. 'What if it was just a trap?' he asked. 'Their intentions might have been good, but what if they weren't? What if they just wanted you to believe that they were on your side while they're spying for Kevin?'

'Spying?' Dan waved. 'What could they reveal to Kevin, eh? That I'm sad about my mum's miscarriage? Be sensible, Norbert! I saw the girls and they meant what they said. I'm a good observer of the human nature, and I _know_ that they were honest.'

'Well, if you're sure about this, then I'm happy that you reconciled with them.' his friend shrugged.

* * *

On Boxing Day Harry received a letter from Aunt Petunia.

_Dear Harry,_

Thank you very much for the talking picture. I'm having so much fun with it! That lady in it is quite talkative, but I find it wonderful - it is like constantly having a friend in the house. Vernon wanted to chuck it out, saying that it came from your freaky world, but I threatened him that I wouldn't cook for him in the future if he did anything to that painting. Last night, I put it into our bedroom, but Vernon got a bit irritated when he woke up at five in the morning to hear me talking to my new friend. So I think Bethany (that's the lady's name) will be placed into the kitchen.

Yesterday, Dudley and his family visited us. Imagine, Millicent is pregnant again! They told me to give you their best regards. Marge is coming tomorrow, I'll think she'll get a shock when she sees Bethany, but I don't care. (Would you have thought? - I'm beginning to tolerate magic!)

I hope you and your family are doing well. Happy Christmas,

Your Aunt Petunia

Petunia had also included a Christmas present - as useless as all the Dursleys' previous Christmas presents for Harry - a photo of the house at 4 Privet Drive. As if Harry hadn't seen it enough times! Well, people like Petunia never really changed… or did they?

* * *

On 28th December Ginny was allowed to get up and insisted on making lunch for the family and the guests - Hagrid and Norbert. Although his wife and daughter had departed to visit their uncle on the French riviera, Hagrid was staying until the end of the holidays.

"You know, your mother is really remarkable," whispered Norbert to Daniel over lunch. "She is tougher than I thought."

"Yeah," Dan swallowed a mouthful of Yorkshire pudding. "She's cool, my mum."

"Where is Dinky, mum?" asked Lea Potter.

"She's not feeling well, sweetie," Ginny replied. "She's still suffering from the flu."

"Mistress Ginny?" a squeaking little voice spoke up behind her.

"Dinky? What are you doing up? You should be in bed!" Ginny tutted. "You have to be cured of flu before you get up."

"Dinky is not having the flu, Mistress Ginny," the elf shook her head.

"No? Then why are you so sick?" Ginny frowned.

"When Madame Pomfrey was here in the morning, Harry Potter asked her to examine Dinky, too, and she said…" the elf's voice trailed off.

"What did she say?" asked Harry.

"Oh, Master Harry, Dinky does not know how to tell!" the elf broke into tears. "Such a shame… Dinky has been trying to find out how to break it to the family… but she couldn't make up anything… and she is feeling terrible now…"

"Why?" Hagrid asked with a kind expression - his liking for magical creatures hadn't ceased over the decades. "What happened that is so terrible?"

"Dinky has… broken a sacred elven rule!" the elf sobbed, hiding her ugly little face into her palms.

"The '500-day-rule'?" asked Daniel with an intrigued expression.

"Yeeees…" Dinky cried.

"What?" Harry knitted his eyebrows, having no idea about elves rules.

"She means she's pregnant," replied Norbert.

"Pregnant?" Ginny gasped. "Is that true, Dinky?"

"Yes, Mistress…" the elf sniffed. "Dinky is having a little elf from Dobby…" she placed her tiny hand on her stomach, gently caressing it, while tears were still pouring down her cheeks, onto her tidy cardigan.

She looked so pathetic that Lily and Hagrid felt pity for her, but Ginny's expression didn't reveal compassion of any kind. Harry's heart wrenched as he glanced at his wife. The elf's announcement couldn't have come at a worse time.

"I have lost my appetite. Excuse me," Ginny rose to her feet and left the dining room, leaving the sobbing Dinky and the perplexed family behind.

* * *

After having managed to talk Dinky into blowing her dripping nose and calming down a bit, Harry decided to look for his wife.

He found her in their room, flinging clothes out of the wardrobe. His heart missed a beat - she wasn't going to leave the house, was she?

Suddenly, she grabbed a pink dress and started to tear it. As its sleeve fell onto the ground, the dress turned a sad shade of dark-lilac. It was the dress she had received from Fred and George when she was carrying Lily - the colour-changing dress, her favourite - the one she had worn during all her pregnancies.

"What are you doing, Gin?" Harry ran up to her, fearing that she had gone mad.

"I won't be needing this, will I?" she growled and started to tear the other sleeve off.

"Stop Ginny, stop!" he jerked the cloth out of her hands and encircled her with his arms. She fought to let go, but he held her too tight. "It's okay, it's okay… calm down, please…" he beseeched her.

"How could I?" she hissed. "I have just lost my child and Dinky is announcing that she is pregnant! I feel like exploding, Harry! I must do something, something to let go of my anger, don't you understand?"

"Then punch me. Punch a pillow, or anything, but don't release your anger on that dress, it never hurt you."

"I know it didn't…" she whispered through gritted teeth, "but it was the first thing that came to my mind… I wanted to wear that dress again so badly, and I cannot!" she banged her tiny fists into Harry's shoulder, hard.

Harry didn't know what to do - maybe he should ask a psychiatrist at St. Mungo's again…

"You might be able to wear it again, honey… just wait it out. Have patience, and I promise you that you'll wear it again," he cupped her chin and kissed away the tears of anger that kept flowing down her face.

"You promise?" she whispered.

"I do," he nodded. "Now lie down a bit, Gin. Here, take this," he offered her a sedative pill that Madame Pomfrey had left there in case they needed it.

"No. No more drugs, thank you. I will have to face this with a clear head. God help me to succeed…" she pulled the cover up, not caring at all that she was still fully-clothed.

* * *

_God help me to succeed_. This line kept echoing in Harry's mind as he watched his wife fall into a deep slumber. He was sure that she'd have a nice, dreamless sleep - she seemed to have been exhausted. Sometimes, one single shock could tire you out more than a day spent with hard work… He grabbed the torn dress, kissed Ginny on the forehead and made a decision.

* * *

He looked up at the façade of the white building. It wasn't big, but it was very pretty. So, his parents had married here…

He took a deep breath and entered. Ginny had been right to say that he ought to visit this place - the mere walls of it were radiating peace, and peace was exactly what he needed now.

His gaze travelled around in the chapel that was painted white. There were only five rows of pews and a small altar, but nothing more could have fitted into this tiny building. A couple of vases were standing on the altar, full with white calalilies. Everything here seemed to be imbued with some inexplicable calmness that found its way into his heart as well.

He had been in only one other church before - the church of Little Whinging, but it didn't look half as pretty as this one.

He walked down the short aisle and stopped before the altar, lifting his head to look upwards.

"Hey, Old Boy," he whispered, "yes, I'm talking to you… sorry to bother you, but I think I need your help," he hesitated for a moment, then continued. "Listen, I know that I haven't really cared for you, and maybe I shouldn't be asking anything after that… I don't remember much of the things I heard about you, but one thing I do remember: that you are said to forgive everyone, no matter what they have done. I know… I know that I haven't been exactly like you would have wanted me to, but that's because of the way I grew up… no parents and everything. I suppose you know that, don't you? You know that I have been partly blaming you for all that happened to me? For what happened to the world… but I'll stop blaming you if you help now. Perhaps that sounds like blackmail, but… just let Ginny get all right, okay? Let her get out of her depression, let her heal… that's all."

He stood there without budging, as though waiting for a reassuring answer that refused to come. The chapel was as silent as it had been when he entered it. He hung his head, massaging his neck that got sore of gazing upwards for such a long time, then turned around to leave, thinking that perhaps he shouldn't have come… what was he expecting, after all? He couldn't have expected God to yell down from heaven that 'S'okay, apology accepted, she'll get all right!'. Staring at the tile floor he started to walk towards the door, feeling rather stupid. In the door, however, his gaze fell on a pair of shoes.

"Vicar Diggle?" Harry looked up.

The other man gave him a friendly smile. "I was wondering whether I'd ever get to see you here, Mr. Potter."

"Well, you do," Harry shrugged. "Though I don't really know what I'm doing here…"

"Praying, perhaps?" the vicar said, smiling again. "People usually come here to pray to God."

"God?" Harry whispered. "Is there a God at all?"

"A bit odd question to ask a vicar," John Diggle laughed. "Of course there is a God, Mr. Potter. A God who loves us all."

"Yeah… that was what I heard in the church in my childhood…" the young wizard sighed, "but I didn't believe it."

"Why?" asked the vicar, his face radiating interest and a willingness to help. Without noticing, Harry was walking back into the chapel with him, sitting down in one of the pews.

"Why?" he grunted. "Because he wasn't good to me. He let my parents die, he let Voldemort rule over the world and kill thousands of innocent people… he let me grow up with people from whom I never got love… I simply didn't have a reason to believe in his existence. Why did he let all these things happen? Why didn't he intervene? He is said to be the Almighty, then why…? He could have stopped it all."

"One thing at a time, Mr. Potter," the vicar said softly. "You ask why the Lord let your parents die? Well… had he not, then you very possibly wouldn't have been able to do away with Voldemort at the age of one. Had Voldemort not killed your parents, he would still have killed you, and then no one could have stopped him… he killed Lily and James - oh, I knew them well… I married them here… and you were also baptized here, Harry…" he added with a sad smile, "But I digress… So, Voldemort killed them, but your mother could protect you just before she died - protect you with a charm that stumped Voldemort. The ways of God are hard to understand, but he always has a reason for everything. He let your parents die, because he knew that with this the world would be saved for thirteen years."

"Okay, then… why did he let Voldemort return after thirteen years? And why did he let Voldemort gain power at all? If he knew how evil Tom Riddle was, then why didn't he just stop him from becoming a powerful dark wizard?" Harry asked, almost pleading the other man to explain things he had been longing to understand all his life.

"God has placed several difficulties in the path of mankind throughout history, Mr. Potter. He wanted to test us, to see whether our faith was great enough to bear the hardships…"

"You don't mean that God deliberately set Voldemort on the world?" Harry gasped.

"Of course not," vicar Diggle laughed. "No, that wasn't what I meant. What I meant was that he could have prevented those dreadful events, but he did not."

"But why?"

"Because God is a gentleman. He only intervenes when people ask him to."

"Then why didn't he intervene while Voldemort was making all the massacres? I bet that several witches and wizards were praying to him to stop the evil. Why didn't he stop it?"

"He did," the vicar said quietly. "Through you, Harry Potter."

"You're telling me that I was a tool in God's hand?" Harry furrowed his brow, feeling the whole thing ridiculous. Ridiculous, yes, but somewhere deep down it was exhilarating as well. He just didn't understand this feeling - this was something new, something he had never experienced before.

"But…" he still felt like debating. "I've heard priests say that God sees the past, the present and the future at the same time. Couldn't he have prevented Tom Riddle from being born if he saw the future and knew what he'd become…"

"Mr. Potter… Harry. You are talking about predestination, but that's not how it works. God gave every single person free will to make their own decisions. He gave Tom Riddle free will as well to choose from the paths of life. He chose the wrong path. According to my interpretation, God sees several possible futures and only one from those comes true - the one that the person chooses for himself."

Harry gave the vicar a surprised stare. He had never thought of these things like this before…

"I've got to go," he stood up. "Thanks for the talk, vicar Diggle."

"It was a pleasure to talk to you, Mr. Potter," the other man smiled and shook Harry's hand. "It seems we are getting a snow-storm tonight. I'd better place a snow-repelling charm on the door," he drew a wand out of his robes and flicked it at the door. Something seemed to have rippled in the doorframe - something translucent, looking like water arranged into a very thin wall. John Diggle stepped through it, followed by Harry. "A tricky little charm - anyone can visit the chapel during the storm, but the snow and cold will be kept outside."

Seeing a vicar doing magic was a rather unusual sight - Harry had never seen priests doing it. Certainly he had seen wizard priests at his wizard friends' weddings, but those priests usually didn't do magic, just asked the 'do you?'s. Now Harry understood more than even before how stupid the witch-hunts had been - there _were_ witches and wizards who believed in God, still it was the church that kept chasing them and trying to kill them. Why were the people of the old times so dense not to realise that magic and faith in God could actually live together?

"Are you coming to the New Year's party to the Three Broomsticks, Mr. Potter?" asked the vicar.

"Well, not likely," Harry shook his head. "My wife is not feeling well and I don't think that she'll get well enough in three days to go partying."

"I'll pray for her," said John Diggle.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I hope to see you soon, Mr. Potter."

* * *

By the time Harry got home, the blizzard had broken out and tore at the bare branches of the trees like a hurricane, making them sway and creak dangerously. Harry found Ginny sitting on the windowsill of their room, staring out into the storm.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she whispered, her chin resting on her knees, her arms encircling her drawn-up legs. For a moment she looked like a little girl… Harry remembered the Christmas of his sixth year at Hogwarts - the only Christmas he had spent at the Burrow. One night, he had been unable to fall asleep because the ghoul in the attic had decided to sing 'Deck the halls' for hours on end. Ron must have already got used to the ghoul's antics, but Harry had not. So, he had grabbed his blanket and pillow and headed downstairs, hoping that he'd be able to sleep on the couch in the living room. However, the living room had already been occupied by someone - the small hunched figure of Ginny was sitting at the window, gazing out into the night, watching the wind chasing snowflakes across the sky. She looked so tiny and vulnerable, Harry had thought before realising that he had been standing there for minutes. He chastised himself for gawping and reminded himself of his one and only love: Cho.

Now that he looked back at those memories, he found it incomprehensible that he had ever been able to love someone like Cho when Ginny was around. And he found it even more incomprehensible that Cho had managed to wake certain emotions in him when they had met again. Why? He loved Ginny!

"Yes, it's really beautiful," he nodded and sat down next to her. "Beautiful and dangerous. Just like a certain red-haired female I know."

Ginny gave him a questioning look. "Dangerous? Me?"

"Yeah, you," he grinned. "Because whenever you look at me like that, I feel capable of anything… even totally crazy things. I'd do anything for you just to see you happy. Anything."

"I know," she smiled. When Sirius had left Rosmerta's place over the afternoon he had seen Harry enter the chapel. Naturally, he had told Ginny about it and she felt touched. She knew about Harry's not-so-wonderful relationship to the Almighty and found it downright endearing that he had made this sacrifice for her - because she knew that she was the reason for Harry going there. "I know," she repeated and bent her head on his shoulder. "And that's why I'm going to be happy again… because I want you to be happy, too."

He gave her a confused look.

"I meant that I'd try with all my might to get over this as soon as possible, and I promise you not to let myself sink into depression… I can't afford to feel depressed when I have six wonderful children and a husband who loves me above all. That just wouldn't be fair, would it?"

As a reply, he tilted his head and kissed her, long. "I am the luckiest man on Earth to have you as my wife. And if there is a God, then I must thank him for giving you to me."

* * *

_31st December_

"Daaaaad, let us come!"

"No way," Harry shook his head. "You three are just ten years old."

"But we are going to turn eleven in three weeks!" Robert protested.

"Less than three weeks!" Rose added. "You must let us go to the New Year party!"

Harry exchanged a glance with Ginny, who shrugged. "It wouldn't be that terrible to bring them too, would it?" she said. The previous day, she had all of a sudden told Harry that she wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks for the New Year party. Harry was delighted by the idea, believing it to be a sign of Ginny's healing. After grieving over the loss of their child for a week, she badly needed something to cheer her up, and the party promised to be very cheery indeed.

The Potter parents decided to take Lily, Daniel and Norbert as well, since they were old enough to stay up until midnight. 'But don't expect us to let you drink champagne!' Harry had told them. Now the triplets grew bold and demanded to be taken to the party on the basis that Norbert was just one month older than they were and he was allowed to go. What could a parent do in such a case if he wanted to be regarded 'fair' by his children?

"All right," Harry sighed.

"Yippppeeee!" Richie jumped for joy.

"But no champagne," their father reminded them.

"Okaaay…" Rose pouted.

* * *

Dobby visited the family during the afternoon - or rather put it this way: Dobby visited _Dinky_ during the afternoon (he had proposed to her the previous day and she gladly accepted). Both he and Dinky were relieved that the Potters weren't actually mad at them for creating a little elf - Harry, for one, found it rather amusing, and tried to imagine the baby elf to-be-born: a tiny, brown faced, bat-eyed thingie peering out of blue/pink swaddling clothes. He couldn't wait to see Dobby's son/daughter, given that he had never seen a baby elf before. Elves were said to be pregnant for seven months before giving birth, so the little one should be arriving in early June… around the same time his son should have been born, Harry thought bitterly, then shook his head to chase away the sad thoughts - it was the last day of the year after all, and it was supposed to be fun.

Dobby offered to stay in the Potter house with Dinky and watch over little Lea who, naturally, wasn't about to be taken to the party. She sobbed her heart out, kicked her father in the shin (Harry was seeing stars for a while), but her parents still refused to take her. "You're too young, sweetie, you should be in bed by eight o'clock, you'd only fall asleep in Madame Rosmerta's pub…" said Harry soothingly, while casting a pain-killer charm on his leg. "And of course the owls are going to stay with you here, you can choose one to take up to your room and he or she can stay there with you while you're sleeping." This in itself was a great allowance from Harry, because Lea up till now had not been allowed to use the owls ('they are for carrying letters, not for playing with little girls, honey!').

Lea gave her father a surprised look, then said: 'Okay, then, I choose Hedwig!'

What could Harry do? A promise was a promise… so poor Hedwig was to spend the night in Lea's room, exposed to the danger of getting squashed to death by a friendly hug from the child.

* * *

At eight o'clock, Harry put his youngest daughter into bed and carried Hedwig into her room. "Sorry, old girl, it's just for one night," he whispered to his favourite pet and gently patted her head. Hedwig nipped at his fingers in a bit miffed way, then flew to Lea's bed and perched herself on the bedpost. "Good girl," Harry smiled. "Good night to you both."

* * *

"I knew I'd be meeting you soon, Mr. Potter!" John Diggle greeted the Potters as they entered Rosmerta's pub. He was already a bit tipsy.

"Good evening, Vicar Diggle," Harry smiled.

"Just call me John tonight, okay?" the vicar giggled and downed the umpteenth cup of mulled mead.

"Yeh don't mind if I join yeh, do yeh?" asked Hagrid from Mr. Diggle. "Four pints of mulled mead, Rosmerta dear!"

"In a minute, Hagrid!" the landlady replied. She had her hands full tonight - the pub was always teeming with people on New Year's Eve. Whole Hogsmeade seemed to have gathered into this one small building. Harry met Doris Crockford (who didn't miss the opportunity to shake his hand) and Daedalus Diggle (who was wearing his usual purple robes and singing 'What should we do with the drunken sailor' - he looked even more pissed than his brother).

Harry and Ginny looked for a less-crowded corner and sat down with Ron and Hermione, while their children immediately spotted the Weasley kids and joined them. Certainly Ron and Hermione hadn't brought their youngest child, Rupert - he was at Burrow Manor with his grandparents. According to Ron, Arthur and Molly were also having some kind of a party at their house, and Harry felt a bit relieved to get to know that Fred and George were visiting that party, so they weren't likely to turn up here and cause trouble.

Neville and his wife were also present, along with Neville's father. Frank Longbottom was a sympathetic, though a bit strict-looking old man - maybe his earlier job as an Auror or the several years spent in the lunatic ward of St. Mungo's had left their mark on him… Harry didn't know.

"Would you look at that!" Ron pointed at the door. "Your neighbours have arrived."

Indeed, Draco Malfoy and Gabrielle Delacour had entered - to Harry's greatest surprise - arm in arm. The truth was that Malfoy hadn't been planning to come with Gabrielle, but they had met on the way to the pub and she had just taken his arm as though it had been the most natural thing in the world. And Draco, being a Malfoy, could not just toss a lady's arm away - what would it do to his reputation as a gentleman?

"Malfoy doesn't look too happy," perceived Ginny.

"I can't see why… Gabie isn't even wearing a green-goblin mask now," Harry commented.

"Speaking of goblins…" Hermione said, pointing at another corner where four goblins were chatting and giving Malfoy rather dark glances. "If I were Malfoy, I'd close that bank. These goblins are playing dirty and his life is worth more than a dratted bank."

"Since when?" Ron asked.

"Ha-ha," his wife said. "Come on, let's dance."

"Would you honour me by giving me this dance, milady?" Harry turned to Ginny as his best friends disappeared into the crowd.

"Certainly," she smiled and let him lead her towards the dance floor. On their way there, they passed by the triplets who were drinking something with rather bemused glances.

"This is no Butterbeer," Harry stated, snatched the glass out of Robert's hand and smelled it. "Quality Wizard Vodka! My gosh, where did you get it? Rosmerta doesn't even sell stuff like this!"

"S'rry, can't tell," replied Rose and staggered backwards - Harry could barely catch her before she fell.

"I told you that you weren't allowed to…" he began.

"Dad, hic, you said hic… no champagne!" Richard reminded him. "This is no champagne…"

"Where did you get it?" Ginny asked with a 'serious-mother-look', but the children seemed determined not to tell.

"All right, then, you are going back to the house and miss the midnight-celebration," their father said.

"Okaaaaay… those goblins hic… had some of this," said Robert, pointing at the corner where the goblins had been sitting. But they had vanished.

What could Harry do? Go and hunt for goblins on Hogsmeade's streets at the middle of the night? Those little monsters could have long Apparated to Diagon Alley or any other part of Great Britain.

"Why would goblins give children alcoholic drinks?" Harry mused after having performed the _Anti-Alcoholicus Charm_ on his children. "And I presume they made you pay for it, right?"

"Well…" Rose drawled, "Aha… wizard vodka is expensive… why would they give it to people for free?"

"I suppose they asked the tenfold of the usual amount, just because you were kids and you couldn't have got it the normal way," Ginny said, scowling.

"Yeah," Richie sighed, looking guilty.

"How much did they ask for it?"

"Ten galleons," whispered Rob.

"Ten galleons?" Harry yelled. "You could get a wand for that! How did you have enough money for it, huh?"

"Well… we have been saving up the pocket money we got from you, dad," shrugged Rose. "We thought tonight would be a good opportunity to spend it."

"Very good, indeed," their father snorted. "No pocket money for six months."

"Six months?" the triplets gasped.

"I don't want to hear a single word or it will be a year. And now, off with you, go and talk to Lily."

"Why Lily? She's boring!" sighed Richard, but seeing his father's expression, he left, followed by Robert and Rose.

"I wonder what makes goblins sink so low - selling alcohol to little kids?" Ginny shook her head in disbelief.

"Malfoy," Harry replied.

"What?" she blinked.

"It's all because of Malfoy's bank. I have seen those four goblins before - in Gringotts. Since Malfoy opened his bank, lots of goblins have lost their cosy Gringotts jobs - they are simply not needed anymore, given that the bank lost almost half of its clientele. They had to do something for a living - and they turned alcohol-smugglers or something like that."

"Oh, the shame!" she hissed. "I never thought that Draco's bank could be such a problem for Gringotts…"

"It apparently is."

When they finally started to dance, Harry's eyes met those of Cho who was animatedly talking to Gabrielle (it seemed that Draco had somehow fled from the young part-Veela). Harry just nodded as a sign of having recognised Cho, but turned his attention back to his wife. Cho did not seem happy about this.

Daniel, meanwhile, was swooning over Liu, who had naturally come with her mother.

"Really nice party, huh?" he tried to start a conversation, fiddling with his brand new broom that he had got for Christmas. (He was so delighted about the present that he hadn't parted with it ever since Christmas day, and even insisted on flying it to the Three Broomsticks).

"Yes, very nice," the girl nodded, clearly bored.

"Would you… would you like to dance with me?" Dan asked a bit insecurely.

"Only to end up in a bush with you again?" Liu wrinkled her nose.

"No, of course not!" he protested. "And it was you who wanted me to kiss you, not the other way around!"

"Hah! Do you have any idea how impolite it is to remind a lady of something like this?" she snapped. She had been avoiding Daniel ever since the Halloween party - maybe she felt ashamed that they had been caught kissing…

"But it's… it's just the truth," Dan muttered, turning red as a cherry.

"Listen here, Daniel," said Liu, "I like you, I really do… but just like a friend or a brother. And you seem to want to be more than that."

"_You_ wanted to kiss me that way!" he replied angrily. "Friends do not kiss the way we did!"

"You are so immature, Daniel!" Liu jumped up from her seat. "One can't have a normal conversation with you!"

"Do you call lying and denying things normal? Because if you do, then I really can't have a normal conversation!" the boy shouted and stormed away from her.

* * *

"It seems Dannie has problems with his girlfriend," Norbert whispered into Lily's ear.

"I didn't even know he had a girlfriend," she replied, blushing. The closeness of the boy made her feel uneasy.

"Oh, he doesn't really have one… but he's pining over Liu Chang. Didn't you know?"

"No," she shook her head. It was scary that her little brother had grown up so early! She had actually seen him the other day having an arousal and now he turned out to be running after another first-year! This wasn't fair, she thought. Ickle Dannikins was a Big Boy already, while she wasn't a Big Girl yet, although she was more than a year older than him! And then there was this Norbert, who seemed to have something for her. At least Daniel was 12 already, but Norbert was barely eleven! Girls are said to mature earlier than boys, but she seemed to be an exception. Or had all boys gone mad?

"Will you excuse me?" Norbert said suddenly. "I've got to go after Dan before he does something stupid."

"Of course," she replied, watching as Norbert caught up with Daniel. She couldn't help wondering why Malfoy had asked to be excused at all - as if she had wanted him to join her!

* * *

Meanwhile, Sirius had arrived and Vicar Diggle had disappeared - according to Doris Crockford, he had got himself so drunk that he was puking somewhere outside. This Doris Crockford was a terrible gossip. She had one or two nasty comments about everyone, and not even Harry (whose hand she had shaken three times that evening) was an exception:

"You know," she turned to Mrs. Figg, "I heard that Mrs. Potter has lost her baby. But no wonder, after all, she must have been overworking. She has re-opened Honeydukes, she's also doing everything around the house because those worth-nothings she has for children aren't much of a help, and not even her husband helps her enough."

"What gives you that idea?" asked Arabella, fondling a kitty (she had brought three cats to the party because she simply couldn't exist without her pets).

"Well, didn't you see the Potter sledge flying over Hogsmeade on Christmas Eve?" Doris said, "Mrs. Potter was driving that beast… you have no idea how hard it is to control these reindeers! Once Aberforth Dumbledore let me go a round on his sledge and I tried to control those animals - totally impossible! I'm sure that the Potter's reindeer must be just like that - trying to control it is an extremely tiring work, especially for a pregnant woman. Of course she lost the baby the same night!"

"Honestly, Doris, I don't think that Ginny's miscarriage has anything to do with her driving the sleigh," Mrs. Figg shook her head.

"Still," Miss Crockford replied, "Harry Potter should have taken better care of his wife, I'm telling you! And Mrs. Potter…"

"What about her?" Arabella rolled her eyes.

"Well, she lost her baby a week ago, and instead of staying at home and grieving over the loss, she's here, partying! What kind of a person is she?"

"A very nice one, I believe," Mrs. Figg said and left Doris to share her negative thoughts of the Potters with someone else.

So, Miss Crockford was forced to look for a new chat-partner and chose Draco Malfoy for the role. However, on her way to Draco, she shook Harry's hand for the fourth time as well.

* * *

"May I steal your husband for a minute?"

Ginny turned around to see Cho standing behind her, eyeing Harry. "Excuse me?"

"You don't mind if I steal Harry for a minute, do you?" Cho repeated.

"Of course not," Ginny said with a hint of sarcasm and offered her husband's hand to the other woman. Cho took it without hesitating, even before Harry could voice his opinion. He barely saw that Draco (who had fled from Doris Crockford) asked Ginny for a dance, because Cho had already whisked him away from the dance-floor.

"I thought you wanted to dance," he said.

"No. I wanted to talk," she said with a sweet smile.

"About what, Cho? I thought we had already discussed everything," he sighed.

"About us."

"There's no 'us', Cho, don't you understand? I'm a married man with six children… I can't give you anything but my friendship."

"You can't, or you don't want to?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Stop confusing me, please, and listen to me," he said. "I did love you back at Hogwarts, I admit that, but that's over and we can't be more than friends."

"Your wife wouldn't have to know," she whispered.

"You have changed, Cho. You have changed a lot," he replied with a serious expression. "The Cho Chang I remember would never have offered me to cheat on my wife with her - the old Cho would have accepted that I was committed to someone else."

"So… this is about commitments? Just the feeling of responsibility? Not love for your wife?" she reached out to touch his hand, but he quickly pulled it back.

"Of course it is about love for my wife!" he grunted and nervously ran his hand through his messy locks. That was a great mistake.

"I know this gesture, Harry," Cho declared. "It is involuntary, but it means that you aren't telling the truth… or at least you're telling just a part of the truth."

"What do you mean?" he knitted his eyebrows. He was beginning to dislike the discussion more and more by every passing second.

"I mean that you still have feelings for me," she tilted her head a bit, letting a silky black curl fall onto her bare shoulder. That was only when Harry noticed what a skimpy dress she was wearing.

"You are imagining things, Cho."

"Am I?" she reached out to cup his chin, and this time he was too slow to retreat - her hand made contact with his face and a wave of heat coursed down his body. He was on the verge of saying 'damn you, Cho, get yourself a boyfriend' when suddenly Dobby burst into the pub.

"Fire!" he squeaked. "The Potter house is on fire!"

Harry jumped up from his seat and Ginny disentangled herself from Draco's embrace.

"Lea!" they shouted in unison Disapparated in the next instant.

* * *

Little Lea had been asleep for more than an hour when the also slumbering Hedwig had sensed that something was amiss. She swivelled her head, looking around for the source of the problem, and then she saw it: smoke was filtering into the room, under the door. She swooped down on the child, brushing her with her wings.

"Don't tickle, Hedwig…" Lea muttered in her sleep, but the owl kept tickling her. When she saw that it was not effective, she decided to pinch the little girl's earlobe. "Ouch!" Lea shouted, sitting up and rubbing her eyes drowsily. "What is it, Hedwig?"

The owl flew to the door, signalling that the child should notice something there.

"Smoke…" Lea coughed. "Is there… fire?"

Hedwig hooted something that the girl took as a yes.

"Then we've got to get out of here, Hedwig!" she shouted and ran up to the door and ripped it open, only to face a wall of fire. "We can't get out this way!" she started to cry. Not even Hedwig could fly through the flames, because they reached from the floor up to the ceiling. "Dobby! Dinky! Help!" Lea yelled, but no reply came. Maybe the elves were dead already…

She banged the door shut and barricaded herself and Hedwig into her room, hoping that the door would at least hinder the flames for a while until they could get through the window.

She ran up to the window, but was too small to reach the handle of the windowpane. There were no chairs or tables in her room that she could have pushed to the window to stand on.

"Hedwig, can't you open it?" she shouted in despair.

The owl attacked the handle, trying to turn it, but it refused to obey her. It seemed that owls' claws were excellent for carrying packages, but not for opening windows. _Carrying packages_… Hedwig got an idea. Owls could carry very heavy packages, after all…

She swooped down on the little girl, flinging her claws before Lea's eyes.

"What do you want?" Lea asked, wiping tears of fright away. Or did those tears come because of the smoke? It was beginning to be more and more difficult to breathe in the small room. Hedwig flung her legs towards the child, as if saying 'come on, understand me, please!' And Lea did. "You want me to grip your legs and you'll hoist me up to the windowsill so that I can reach the handle?"

The owl hooted reassuringly, though quite feebly. She was a very old bird, after all, and smoke did not do good to any creatures, especially if they were her age.

"Okay…" the little girl reached out and grabbed Hedwig's legs, the owl's claws digging into her palm, making her wince - still she knew that she had to hold on, no matter how much it hurt - she had to hold on if she wanted to survive.

Slowly, very slowly, they started to rise from the floor…

* * *

Harry, Ginny and several other witches and wizards Apparated to the Potter house. Dinky was standing in front of it, trembling and sobbing. Six owls - Hedwig's children - and one raven - Norbert's pet - were flying around, letting out excited hoots and croaks. Abu the monkey was jumping up and down in the snow, squeaking in a terrified way.

"Where's my daughter?" Harry yelled at Dinky.

"Up… in her room, Master," the elf howled.

Harry didn't ask why the elves hadn't brought Lea out of the flames - there was no time for questions.

Some wizards immediately melted the ice on the garden lake's surface and directed its water on the walls. While they occupied themselves with the extinguishing on the outside of the building, Harry burst into the living room, only to see everything on fire. He started to extinguish the flames in his way up to the staircase, but it was a hopeless fight. The whole first floor was blazing, impenetrable for one single wizard. "I'll help!" Sirius caught up with him, and so did Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom. Harry didn't even have time to get surprised by Draco's sudden willingness to help, or Neville's sudden heroism. With the help of extinguishing and shield charms - and using some of the water from the small built-in swimming pool - the four of them made their way through the flames, to the little girl's bedroom.

"Lea!" Harry coughed, waving to fan the smoke to see something… but the room was empty. Its window, however, was open. Harry's heart skipped a beat. The four men ran up to the window and looked down - Lea was there, in Hagrid's gigantic arms. She must have jumped out mere seconds earlier. Harry's heart started beating again - thank heavens, his daughter was alive!

He, Draco, Neville and Sirius turned around to leave the room, but the flames had again barricaded their way.

"Harry, jump!" called Hagrid, showing him a huge piece of clothing - very likely Hagrid's winter coat - that he and four other wizards stretched beneath the window like a trampoline.

"You three first!" Harry shouted at Draco, Neville and Sirius.

"I'm not defying!" Malfoy replied and jumped, followed by Longbottom.

"Go on, Harry!" Sirius yelled.

"You go, it's my house!"

"You're not a captain who has to go down with his ship!" his godfather replied and pushed Harry forward, so that he lost his balance and fell. Hagrid's cloak saved him. Right after him Sirius jumped, too.

Harry ran up to Lea, who was already in Ginny's arms, sobbing, clutching something that looked like a messy whitish-grey ball in her arms.

"My little angel!" he pulled the child into a firm embrace, and only when he let go did he realise what Lea was gripping so close to herself.

Hedwig.

"Daddy…" the little girl sniffed, "she saved me… she lifted me up to the window-handle…" with that Lea handed the owl to her father.

Harry felt as though a dagger had been stabbed into his heart. "Hedwig…" he whispered, and a tear ran down his sooty cheek, onto the beak of his old friend.

_'…I still haven't got yeh a birthday present.'_

'You don't have to…'

'I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl.'

Picture after picture flashed into Harry's mind: Hedwig drinking from his orange juice, Hedwig bringing dead mice back, Hedwig nipping at his fingers, Hedwig being angry with him, Hedwig being jealous of Pigwidgeon… and he caught himself sobbing like he hadn't done for ages. He drew the owl to his chest, hung his head and just cried, his body trembling with each sob.

"She died a hero," said Hagrid's raspy voice. "An' she was old already."

Harry looked up at his half-giant friend. "She was the… most wonderful pet one could ever wish for… I thought… I thought she'd never die…"

"What happened here?" Vicar Diggle - looking like someone who had just been sobered up by the _Anti-Alcoholicus Charm_ - stepped to the little crowd gathering around the smoking house.

A squad of sooty wizards and witches (Ron, Hermione, Frank Longbottom, Daedalus Diggle, Mrs. Figg and a few others) just stumbled out of the building - they had entered after Harry, Draco, Neville and Sirius, and had managed to put out the fire after those four had jumped out of the window. The cheery-yellow painting of the house now looked dirty grey, dotted with black, the roof was missing in certain places and the little garden pond was dried out - all its water had been used for putting out the fire.

"What happened here, you are asking?" Harry turned to the vicar, his green eyes reduced to slits. "Just one thing happened, Mr. Diggle: God has proven me how much he _loves_ me."


	17. A birthday, a wedding and a funeral

A/N: I have to say I was happy and relieved to see that you didn't take the religion part badly at all. You took it quite well :)

The article is supposed to be in italics, I don't know whether ffnet keeps the italics when I upload it…

Well, onto the next chapter that will also make you shriek at me angrily (although for a totally different reason ;)

Chapter 17

**A birthday, a wedding and a funeral**

"Of course he loves you… like he loves everyone," the vicar stuttered, clearly not sane enough to comprehend what had just taken place. 

"Loves me, eh?" Harry growled. "Then why did he let this happen? You said God had a reason for everything… then tell me, vicar, what reason did he have for _this_?" he flung the dirty, sagging feather-ball that used to be Hedwig, in front of Mr. Diggle's eyes. "And for _this_?" he yelled, pointing at the ruin that had been his house. "What did I do to punish me like this?" he howled up into the dark January sky. It was a minute past midnight – the year 2012 had started. But this time no fireworks appeared on the sky, only the smoke that rose from the Potter house, blurring the stars. No cheers and clinks of champagne-glasses could be heard, but sniffs and sobs and gasps.

"Harry, calm down, please!" Sirius put an arm around the young wizard's shoulder, but Harry tossed his godfather's hand away, as if he couldn't bear anyone's touch at the moment. "How could I calm down? My house has been burnt down! My owl has died! My daughter almost died!" his gaze shifted to the quivering Dinky. "Why didn't you put out the fire when it started? Elves have magic powers, don't they?"

"Well, Master Harry…" Dobby answered instead of his girlfriend, "it is like that elves lose a serious amount of their magic powers when they are in love… Dobby and Dinky couldn't have put out the fire even if they tried."

"But… why didn't you come to the pub earlier? That fire must have started long before you told us!" Harry yelled in an accusing voice.

"Master Harry… Dobby is very ashamed… but Dobby and Dinky were too occupied to notice the danger at first…" the elf hung his head, his brown complexion tinged with red.

"You were _shagging_ while the fire spread in my house?" Harry shouted, shaking, but not with sobs, but with rage. 

"Master, we apologise…" Dinky squeaked.

"Don't let me see you again!" her master bellowed at the unfortunate elf. "You're fired! Go and fuck Dobby elsewhere!"

"Harry…" a tear-soaked Ginny stepped to him, but he recoiled.

"Leave me alone," he hissed. "I have to bury my owl."

The crowd gave way to him and followed him with their eyes as he put Hedwig's body onto the snow in his garden, right under a huge oak tree that Hedwig had loved to perch on. He flicked his wand at the ground and a small hole appeared on the soil. Harry dropped to his knees, pulled his old Gryffindor scarf off his neck and wrapped the tiny body into it, then placed it into the hole with all the solemnities befitting a monarch, not a mere animal. He covered it with soil again and levitated a rock from the rockery, placing it over the tomb, then with a final wave of his wand, he conjured an epitaph of one single word onto the stone: '_Hedwig_'. 

"May you rest in peace, my friend," he whispered, a last tear coursing down his soot-covered cheek. "I shall never forget you… and I'll revenge your death, I swear," with that he stood up and headed back to the others. "Come on, Ginny, kids, we are going to Mrs. Figg's. We no more have a home."

* * * * *

On the 2nd January, Gabrielle Delacour was having breakfast, preparing to leave her house for the florist's shop when the magical doorbell rang. She opened the door to see Draco standing at the gate of her garden. She activated the gate-unlocking charm and let the visitor in.

"Good morning, Miss Delacour."

"Good morhning, Mr. Malfoy," she said. "To what do I owe ze honour of your visit?"

"Have you read today's paper?" the blonde man asked.

"No. Should I 'ave?"

Draco shoved the _Daily Prophet_ into the young woman's hand. "Rhea Skeeter has been well-informed as always. Takes after her wretched aunt."

On the front page was a coloured photo of the sooty Potter house, and – to Gabrielle's surprise – another photo of Draco's house.

The headline said: _'HOUSES MISTAKEN – GOBLIN REVENGE?'_

_The first day of the new year will very likely remain the most tragic memory of Harry Potter. While he and most of his family were taking part in the New Year's Eve party in the Three Broomsticks, his house burnt down. What has caused the fire? – we may ask. And the answer very possibly lies with Mr. Draco Malfoy and his bank, Malfoy & Malfoy. _

_You may wonder what the connection between the fire devastating Mr. Potter's house and Mr. Malfoy's bank could be. Just cast a glance at the photos below. Even in its burnt state, the Potter house bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the banker Malfoy. As though the two houses had been twins… interesting, is it not?_

_As we all know, Gringotts Bank has been suffering from a serious financial crisis ever since Mr. Malfoy opened his bank in Hogsmeade – several goblins have lost their safe jobs and have to live off unemployment benefit, cursing the day Draco Malfoy was born. _

_According to the _Daily Prophet_'s information, Mr. Malfoy has been harried by goblins for months. At the New Year's Eve party in the Three Broomsticks four goblins had been seen, who disappeared shortly before Mr. Potter's house was set on fire. Could it be coincidence? I, for one, seriously doubt it. _

_Mad-Eye Moody, head of the Magical Law Enforcement, has told in an interview that the remains of the Potter house and its surroundings had been thoroughly examined and now we have evidence for a goblin-attack: one of the ground-floor windows has been broken and the shards of a Fire-Spitting-Goblin-Gargoyle have been found. (To those who have already forgotten what they have learned in professor Binns' History of Magic classes: the Fire-Spitting-Goblin-Gargoyle is some kind of a bomb shaped to the form of a gargoyle head. When it is activated, it splits open and an all-igniting substance gets released from its inside. Goblins loved to use this kind of weapon during the Goblin Revolutions.)_

_It seems that the goblins who have been spotted in the pub of Hogsmeade have set Mr. Potter's house on fire – mistaking it for Mr. Malfoy's, given the uncanny resemblance between the two buildings._

_Mr. Malfoy, the real target of the goblins' attack, was also celebrating in the pub, which makes it difficult for us to draw the conclusion – the goblins have very likely seen Mr. Malfoy at the party – but why set his house on fire when he wasn't in it to get burned? Was it supposed to be a mere threat? An admonition to tell Mr. Malfoy _'close your bank or next time you'll also get cooked!'_? We can only guess. _

_A rather racy detail to the story is the fact that the two elves, who were supposed to take care of Potter's youngest child in the house, were having a little romp when the fire broke out, so they did not notice it quickly enough. When they finally noticed it, the flames had already spread from the ground-floor living room up the stairs, separating them from Potter's youngest child. They hastily let the pets – six owls, a raven and a monkey – out of the house and hurried to the pub to notify the Potters. By the time The Boy Who Lived, his family and friends arrived at the house, the whole building was on fire. However – according to bystanders – Potter, his godfather Sirius Black, their friend Neville Longbottom and also the neighbour Mr. Malfoy ran into the blazing building to save the little girl. The child, though, got finally saved by the heroic owl of Mr. Potter. The owl, named Hedwig, managed to lift the child up to the windowsill, but barely had the girl opened the window when the owl died of exhaustion – she had been very old, after all. Bystanders told us about Mr. Potter's behaviour after the tragedy._

**_Doris Crockford_**_: _Harry Potter seemed to have gone mad. I have never seen him like this before – as though he weren't himself. He first wanted to persuade vicar Diggle that God hated him, then fired his house-elf (he did all this with a lot of yelling), then finally, when he had calmed down, he buried his owl in the garden of his house. He looked scary, really, like a raging madman at first, then like a silent lunatic… gave me the creeps!

**_Professor Trelawney_** _(who arrived to the ruins of the Potter house later that day):_ I saw this! I saw this months ago! I told Harry Potter to keep his eyes open, but he just wouldn't listen to me! He keeps saying that Divination is nonsense, the most imprecise branch of magic, but see where he got with his stubbornness! Maybe he'll listen to me from this day on, and he'd better, because the series of tragedies affecting him and his family haven't come to an end yet!__

_We can only hope that Sybill Trelawney was wrong, that Mr. Potter and his family will get better soon and that the guilty goblins will be caught. _'We are working on the case with all our might_' said Mad-Eye Moody. _'And until we catch the perpetrators, I can only give two pieces of advice: first, to Mr. Potter: do remember that life goes on, second, to Mr. Malfoy: the goblins are still thirsting for your blood, so constant vigilance!_'_

_Thank you, Mr Moody._

Gabrielle looked up from the newspaper, frowning. "So you were zeir target? Not 'Arry?"

"No, not Potter. Why would goblins want to harm the wonderful Mr. Potter?" Draco said sarcastically. "If someone wanted to harm him, then maybe Trelawney…" he gave the girl a grin. "She might have set his house on fire just to prove that her prediction was all right."

"Ah, Dhraco!" she waved. "Don't be stupid!"

"I was kidding, okay? Anyway, I have just received an owl from the manager of Gringotts – he wants to talk to me."

"To talk to you? About what?"

"That's obvious, isn't it? He is going to try and persuade me that his former employees have absolutely nothing to do with the attack on Potter's house and that I shouldn't turn to the Magical Court of Justice saying that the goblins wanted to kill me. Of course I'm not going to believe him, whatever he says. I even think it's possible that he will use our little meeting as a good opportunity to get rid of me… he requested in particular that I didn't tell anyone about our meeting… so that no one can suspect him if I mysteriously disappear and my body gets found weeks later in a sewer…"

"Oh, Dhraco… don't even talk about such things!" she knitted her eyebrows, wondering why Malfoy was telling her about his impending meeting when he obviously hadn't told anyone else.

"Why not? The possibility cannot be excluded," Draco replied nonchalantly, as though his life wasn't more important to him than a glass of butterbeer. "And that's why I have come."

"What do you mean?"

"Perhaps you have heard of my very rich – and luckily late – uncle, Jean-Luc Malfoy, who has left all his money by will to us: father and me," Draco said, seating himself. "His last wish was that we found a bank with the money – a bank that can only be directed by Malfoys. Uncle Jean-Luc dreamt about becoming a banker all his life, but he simply had no talents for dealing with money, so he did not dare to start an enterprise. He wanted that father and I made his dream come true - at all costs, so he threatened us that if we didn't found a bank on his money, then it would go to the wizarding orphans. Before we got poor, my father had given donations to orphanages for several times and didn't intend to let them have_ our newly inherited money_. You know, we Malfoys respect our relatives very much, even if we don't like them. Thus, respecting uncle's wish and not wanting to lose the money, we founded the bank… and now all this is in danger. Father isn't going to return to England for months and my brother is still too young to direct a bank if something happens to me… and these goblins are going to see to it that _something_ does happen to me."

"Dhraco, please, don't say zis…"

"But I have to. I've got to prepare for all possibilities… and that is where you come in."

"Me?" Gabrielle blinked.

"Yeah. You have to help me. You said you learned how to direct a bank. Should I die, you have to take over _Malfoy & Malfoy_ until father returns."

"Me? But… you said zat your uncle insisted zat only Malfoys direct ze bank."

"Yes, that's what I said," Draco nodded.

"Now wait a minute! You don't want to…?"

"Oh, yes I do. I'm going to marry you."

"Escuse moi?" she gasped.

Draco looked at her appalled expression and shrugged. "You wanted to marry me years ago, after all… And it's only about a short time. The goblins won't know about it, so your life won't be endangered like mine – they only want to kill the Malfoys. Anyway, this morning, I placed a fire-repelling and explosion-preventing charm on the bank, so you cannot be touched there. An identical charm can be placed on your house and mine as well."

"'Ow good for me!" she said in a mocking tone.

"You don't want to help me, do you?"

"Right zere you are."

"Gabie… " Draco's voice turned pleading. "I'm not asking this for myself… but for my mother, father and little brother. All our money is in that bank. If it goes bankrupt because of my death, my parents and Norbert won't have a knut."

"Hm… I thought you didn't like your bruzzer at all," Gabrielle folded her arms.

"That's right – I don't like him. But it's my duty to secure a safe and wealthy future for him. This is the very first of the 66 Malfoy rules: _respect your relatives and fulfil your duties towards them – at all costs._"__

The girl looked contemplative for a moment, as if weighing the arguments pro and con marrying Draco Malfoy. There were many cons (number 1: Draco is stuck up! number 2: Draco is stuck-up. number 3… Draco is stuck-up…), but the pro was securing the future of an innocent child.

"All right, zen," she said finally. "I don't know your parents, but your bruzzer seemed to be a nice leetle guy to me – I'll do it for 'im. And _not_ for you."

The young wizard nodded.

"And 'ow exactly did you imagine ze whole zing?" she asked. "I mean… marrying me wizout ze goblins getting to know?"

"Have you heard of the ancient Scottish wedding ceremony called troth?"

"No," she shook her head.

"It is the following: the man and the woman assert – without witnesses, if they don't want any –, that they get married to each other. The man gives the woman his ring and the wedding is done. This ring," he pulled a silver ring off his finger, "has been in the possession of the Malfoy family for centuries. The eldest son receives it on his eighteenth birthday and gives it to his fiancée when they get married. The eldest son's wife wears it until their eldest son turns eighteen, then passes it down to him. So, should something happen to me, this ring shall prove that you are my wife. The marriage will last for one single year, and if that year is over, it automatically ceases to exist. The husband and the wife, of course, might decide to get married again in the normal way, but that does not concern us. One year, Gabrielle, and no obligations, no superfluous ceremonies… quite a clever custom, this troth. Muggles stopped using it about one hundred and fifty years ago, but wizards haven't abolished it yet."

"You said it was a Scottish custom… are you Scottish?" she frowned.

"No, I'm pure-blooded English… with a bit of French ancestry," he said with a small smile. "However, we are in Scotland for the time being, so the marriage is going to be valid."

"All rhight. One year… and no sleeping togezzer, Malfoy."

"I thought you liked calling me Draco," he grinned. "Oh, all right. I promise I'm not going to touch you… as long as _you _don't want me to."

"Hah, wishful thinking, Malfoy," she said. "C'mon, let's get it over wiz, zen. Marry me, zen go, ze goblins are waiting for you."

* * * * *

"Why have you sent for me, Albus?" Hermione asked, seating herself in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"I would like to know about Harry's condition," the old wizard replied, looking a bit paler than usual. He must have been shocked by the news of the Potter house burnt down. His phoenix Fawkes was sitting on his lap, its huge black eyes mirroring the sadness of its owner.

"Well… he's coming to teach today, of course…" Hermione said, but seeing Albus' stare she understood that it wasn't what the headmaster was interested in. "He's broken down, Albus. Ginny's miscarriage was hard enough to bear for him, but he showed himself strong, in order to put heart into her.  Still, I know that deep down he was suffering, and now this case with the fire… his youngest child almost died, and she only survived because of Hedwig. Thus… all Harry's pains are focused on Hedwig, who was not only his pet, but a friend. Hedwig was his first real birthday present, you know… he got her from Hagrid… Her death was a terrible shock for him, although he knew that she'd die sooner or later, given that Hedwig was very old. But I suppose he wouldn't have been so crushed if she had died a natural death, peacefully," Hermione heaved a sigh. "Harry just can't accept that his Hedwig died in the fire… or at least almost in the fire. If there had been no fire, she could have lived for another few years, I think… and Harry lost their home as well."

"I heard that the house hadn't tumbled down," Albus said, stroking Fawkes' back. "With a few week's work it can be returned to its original state, right?"

"I think so," Hermione shrugged, "but it won't be the same. This house will always remind him that his daughter almost died in there and that his owl _did_ die in there. Oh, Albus, why is life so unfair to poor Harry?" she burst out. "He has suffered more than any of us put together and his suffering never seems to end! Why? I simply can't accept that he is reduced to a human wreck again because of some stupid goblins who mistook his house for Malfoy's!"

The headmaster shook his head. "I don't think it were the goblins."

"No?" she knitted her eyebrows. "What makes you think that it wasn't them? The _Daily Prophet_ article clearly states that the fire was caused by an ancient goblin weapon."

"Dear Hermione," Albus smiled benignly, "I thought you were good in History of Magic."

"I was," she said.

"Then reply to me, please, what did you learn about the goblins' abilities?"

"Well…" she started chewing her lower lip, concentrating on the bits of knowledge she had stored in her mind over the years. "Goblins are… good in stealth, practically impossible to catch if they don't want to be caught… they have an excellent sense for dealing with money and for cheating for money as well… what else? Um… their vision, hearing and sense of smell are highly developed, almost as much as that of dogs…" her eyes widened. "You meant that they are too keen observers to mistake two houses for each other, even if they look so similar?"

"Exactly," Dumbledore nodded.

"My gosh! Then the target wasn't Malfoy!"

"Right. It was Harry."

"But who… who would want to harm him?" she asked with a pleading expression. "He has no enemies anymore… has he?"

"Be sensible, Hermione," Albus said. "Harry and Ginny had a great role in doing away with Voldemort and getting several Death Eaters into Azkaban. The relatives of those Death Eaters are at large and they must be thirsting for revenge."

"Poor Harry…" she sighed. "There are so many dark wizards who got into Azkaban because of him and Ginny… how could we find out which one caused this?"

"I have already talked to Mad-Eye," replied the headmaster. "And he shares my opinion. The wizards of the Magical Law Enforcement found the shards of Fire-Spitting-Goblin-Gargoyle in the Potter house, but Alastor wasn't fooled. He knew that the attackers wanted it to seem as though it had been done by goblins, so they had used a goblin weapon. Alastor is one of the cleverest people I know – including you. He knows that he has to be looking for humans, not goblins."

"Then that _Daily Prophet_ article was a simple ruse?" Hermione looked extremely excited by the news she had just got to know – excited, but terrified as well. "What Mad-Eye said in there… he wanted everyone to believe that they were after goblins, while in fact they are looking for a human?!"

"Brilliant deduction," Albus said. "I must ask you Hermione, to keep this a secret – no one must know it – especially not Harry. He has to live in the belief that he and his family are safe now because the goblins wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Let him believe this – he will heal quicker if he does not have to worry about another attack."

"Speaking of attacks, Albus… have you managed to find out anything about the acromantulas?"

"Unfortunately no. Just one thing is sure: the attack was aimed at Severus, and it was well-planned."

"Yes, Harry told me about a letter that lured Snape to the edge of the forest…" she looked into Dumbledore's vivid blue eyes. "Harry said he trusted me enough not to tell anyone, and I was the only one he told about it…"

"It's okay, Hermione," Albus waved. "I know that you wouldn't give it away and Harry did the right thing to trust you with this secret – your intelligence might help us solve the riddle."

"I wish it would," she said. "But I'm at my wit's end. Who would want to kill Snape if not… oh! Could it be another Death Eater-relative who has it in for Snape because he sided with you instead of helping You-Know-Who?"

"Possible, yes," Dumbledore nodded. "But a Death Eater-relative's vindictiveness wouldn't make Severus' Dark Mark ache, now, would it?"

"This whole thing gives me the creeps," she shuddered. "Riddle upon Riddle… while Tom Riddle is dead. He cannot be causing all this… can he?" she shot the old wizard a look that beseeched him to say 'of course not'.

"Of course not," said Dumbledore. "I presume you have read the book _Death and beyond_?"

"The one about the wizard reincarnation? Yes, certainly. It states there that wizards and witches who killed out of evil are denied the chance to be reborn in a new body."

"See, Voldemort couldn't have returned. It must be one of his eager followers who wants to do away with Severus and Harry… but who?" he mused.

"I suspect that not all Death Eaters were present at Stonehenge when You-Know-Who died," said Hermione. "Am I right?"

"Alas, this is something we might never know. But we'll work on the case. Just one thing counts: Harry must not know."

"He won't. You have my word," she nodded. "Albus…"

"Yes?"

"Whoever is behind all this… he or she must have it in for Remus as well, don't you think?"

"Um, you refer to the Discord Potion?"

"Yes."

"Well… might be. However, it could be just another 'attack' aimed at Harry. He seems to have a great antagonist."

"I wish I knew who it was…" she said, standing up. "If you excuse me now, I have a class."

"Certainly. Thank you for coming, it is always a pleasure to talk to witty people like you."

"Thank you for your trust, Albus," Hermione nodded and headed for the door. Then she suddenly turned around. "_Lucius Malfoy_."

"Pardon me?"

"I said Lucius Malfoy. How could I be so stupid not to think of him earlier?" she looked downright angry with herself. "He's the only Death Eater we know at large!"

"My dear Hermione," Albus shook his head, "Lucius has had nothing to do with the Death Eater business ever since Voldemort's fall. I wouldn't say that he stopped exercising dark arts, but he has no reason to want to harm either Severus or Harry."

"But… for a while he was You-Know-Who's right hand!" she reasoned. "You-Know-Who might have promised him to give him power beyond we could imagine…"

"Even if Voldemort had given Lucius such a promise, it must have happened before he cast _Cruciatus _on Lucius," Dumbledore said. "Remember that Lucius spent months at St. Mungo with addled brain and only got healed when Voldemort died. I seriously doubt that Lucius would want to take revenge on those who helped Voldemort die, given that he must have been downright mad at his former Dark Lord. If I were in his place, I _would be_ mad at someone who drove me crazy by _Crucio_ and would be thankful to those who brought about the Dark Lord's downfall and my healing."

"You are right," Hermione said, still frowning. "Lucius Malfoy really has no reason to want Harry, Snape and Remus harmed. Then who…?"

"For this question I can only quote Alastor's words: constant vigilance – and we might find out."

"All right, Albus. I promise to keep my eyes open, and should I notice something, I'll report to you."

* * * * *

"Oh, Daniel… I'm so sorry," Gilda said compassionately during an ever-so-boring History of Magic class. She had just returned to the school from Egypt and her friends had told her about the Potters' tragedy-series. "First your mum losing your unborn brother, then the house burning down, and your dad's owl's death… it must have been terrible."

"Yeah, it was," Dan nodded. "I have never seen dad this broken down. He is so pale and his eyes… they look so empty, so devoid of emotions… it keeps me wondering what exactly he is feeling, but he seems to have closed up, letting no one – not even mum – into his heart. I fear he might…"

"Might what?" Norbert asked.

"… go mad," Dan whispered. "I don't want to see my father in the lunatic ward of St. Mungo."

"Don't worry, you won't," Norbert patted him on the shoulder. "Your dad is a tough man, he can hold out, no matter what happens. He did away with Voldemort, didn't he? He faced thousand dangers and always came off victorious!"

"Yeah… perhaps he'll manage this time as well," Dan nodded, not feeling too optimistic.

"Don't give up hope," Gilda squeezed his hand. "Everything is going to be okay and the goblins will be caught and sent to Azkaban for life."

Daniel was very thankful to his friends for the encouragement and felt considerably better after talking to them, but he feared that his fahter's spiritual balance wouldn't be put right as easily as his. Life was so damn unfair, he thought. Why did his father always have to suffer?

Professor Binns shook him out of his reveries by announcing that next Monday they'd be writing a test – about goblins.

"Goblins, goblins, always goblins!" Dan fumed. "They set our house on fire! I hate them! All of them, from Adalbert the Aberrant to Zigfrid the Zonker!"

"You'll still have to write a test about them, so you'd better prepare," Norbert remarked as they exited the classroom. "Oh, good morning, Professor Snape!"

The Potions Master dashed past them without even indicating that he noticed them.

"What got into him?" Gilda frowned. "He's quite nasty, that's right, but up till now I thought he knew that one was supposed to return a greeting…"

"He must have been too immersed in his thoughts," Norbert defended their head of house. "Even he can have problems…"

Dan wondered what Snape's problem could be and followed his friends out onto the grounds, to greenhouse number two.

* * * * *

Snape didn't have any classes on Monday, so no one found it strange that he didn't appear in the Great Hall for the meals – no one, but Bert Bradley. He started to feel worried about the Potions teacher and decided to visit him in his room.

Knock-knock.

"Who's there?" Snape's voice shouted from inside his bedroom.

"It's me, Professor," the caretaker opened the door and entered. "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Snape gave him a bemused look that immediately told Bert that Severus was a bit tipsy. Or maybe not just a bit. He was indeed holding a bottle in his hand, and the bottle was almost empty.

"What are you doing?" Bert knitted his eyebrows. He had never seen Snape like this before and supposed that Snape wasn't the type to get drunk.

"What am I dooooing?" Severus said in a drawling way – his tongue clearly didn't move as quickly as he would have liked. "I'm… I'm celebrating my birthday."

"Your birthday?" Bert asked, sitting down next to Snape. "How wonderful! I didn't even know!"

"'Course you didn't… 'cause no one knows," Severus replied with a dark glance.

"You should have told me that today was your birthday – I would have prepared with some present…" the caretaker said, barely believing that not a single soul in the castle – not even Dumbledore – knew that Severus had birthday today.

"No presents are needed," Snape waved. "I get birthday presents every 13th April from my mum…"

"13th April?" Bert blinked. "But you said that today was your birthday!"

"Yeah… today is my second birthday… I mean… I'm not two years old…" Snape propped his head into his palms. "You wanna know… why I celebrate today as my birthday… when I was born in April?"

"Yes, of course, I'm very interested!"

"Then let me tell ya a story…" Severus said. "You know Harry Potter, right? Oh, hell… how could ya not know Harry Potter?" his voice sounded sarcastic. "Well, hic, he had a father. That in itself wouldn't be surprising… now, would it?"

"Not much," Bert shook his head, not really knowing how to handle a drunken Snape. "What about Professor Potter's father?"

"Well… he was called James. And I haaated him. I hated all his friends as well… that idiot Black and that pathetic Pettigrew… they had Remus Lupin as their fourth friend… and Lupin was a… hic… werewolf… back then."

"A werewolf? Really?" 

"Yeah… but no one knew… just Dumbledore, Pomfrey and Lupin's friends," Snape's expression radiated hate and despise, and something else, too… but Bert couldn't tell what it was. "I realised that Lupin hic… kept disappearing once in a month… got curious… once on the 2nd of January, right after the students came back to Hogwarts after the holidays… I saw Pomfrey escort Lupin… through the school grounds. I was damn curious, and that git Black told me to… to go and hit a gnarl on the Whomping Willow and I'll… hic… I'll get to know where Lupin went… so I went… and almost got killed."

"How?" the caretaker's eyes widened. 

"I hit that gnarl and entered a… secret passage… that started from the willow…" Snape was about to drink the remainder that was in the bottle, but it accidentally slipped out of his hand and broke into several little pieces on the stone floor of the dungeon. The noise of the bottle breaking must have brought Snape a bit to his senses – but just a bit. "Damn," he growled. "Neway, I went into the underground corridor… and saw a werewolf… it was Lupin, and it almost killed me… then came James Potter and saved my sorry ass… damn him, he saved me!"

"Is it that much of a problem?" Bert asked, not understanding how someone could hate a person who had saved his life.

"Of course it is!" Snape slapped the table. "'Cause then I owed him one! I was in the debt of a bloke I haaaated! In the debt of the bloke who… who married the woman I loved," he stared at the ground as rigid as a rock. "James Potter took Lily from me…" indeed, Severus had secretly been in love with Lily Evans. He never understood why he just couldn't bring himself to be rude to Lily Potter, Harry's daughter… but it was obvious. Lily looked exactly like her grandmother, the only woman whom Snape had ever loved.

"I'm sorry," the caretaker reached out and squeezed the Professor's arm. "But I still don't understand why you are celebrating today as your birthday."

"'Cause I almost died that day. I considered it as… as being reborn… getting… getting another chance from life… I've celebrated this day ever since, always remembering James Potter… damn him."

"Excuse me, Professor, don't take me wrong, but if you hated this James Potter so much, then you shouldn't make yourself remember him every year this day," Bert said. 

"Maybe I shouldn't…" Severus shrugged. "Wanna see that underground corridor?"

"Er…" before Bert could properly answer, Snape caught him by the arm and yanked him up from his seat. 

"Come, I'll show ya… and let's take this," Snape snatched a bottle up from his table – one of two identical-looking flasks.

"Er, professor…" the caretaker wanted to protest, only to be dragged upstairs and out onto the chilly, snow-covered grounds. The park was bathed in the light of the full Moon. It was already six p.m. and most students were in their common rooms, sitting by the fire and talking about the past holidays, so not a soul was in the park. Severus was walking way too quickly and steadily for a man as drunk as he was.

Bert was frozen to his bones by the time they reached the Whomping Willow and welcomed the slightly higher temperature in the underground passage. In fact it wasn't a bit warmer in there than out on the grounds, but at least the wind wasn't blowing in there, so the corridor felt a bit warmer.

Snape kept pulling the unfortunate caretaker through the corridor – he had to bend down all along, not to bang his head into the ceiling -, and after about five minutes of swift walking they reached some kind of an underground room. Everything here was in ruins – the table, the chairs, everything had been crushed and the floor was littered with their debris.

"Well… that's it," Snape said. "The Shrieking Shack… that's where Lupin lived every month at full moon."

"Ehm… interesting place," said Bert, looking around in the dark room that was only illuminated by Snape's wand.

"Yeah… James and Lily were having dates here, so I heard…" the Potions master growled with a noticeable bitterness in his voice. "How utterly disgusting…"

"Um, Professor… if you don't mind me asking, why have you brought me here if you thought that this place was utterly disgusting?" the caretaker knitted his eyebrows.

"'Cause you were interested… weren't you?" Snape grunted.

"Er, yeah, I was, but…"

"C'mon, let's go upstairs… I've brought a nice bottle of champagne… and this is… this is the first year that I'm sharing my 'birthday' champagne with someone… you can't say no to it!" Snape's voice was peremptory and pleading at once, as though he had longed to share the celebration with someone for years but up till now he hadn't found anyone to tell about his secret. Bert felt sympathy for him – who wouldn't feel sympathy for such a lonely man as Severus Snape?

"Of course I'm going to drink with you to your 'birthday', professor," he smiled.

Snape nodded and led him upstairs, into a room that had a table with two chairs (in much better condition than one floor lower) and a huge four-poster bed.

The professor conjured some candles, took place on a chair and motioned the caretaker to sit down opposite him. He conjured two glasses and filled the liquid from his flask into them, then thrust one of them into Bert's hand.

"And now…" Snape lifted his glass to a toast, "damn all the Potters for always saving my miserable life… and bless them for the same… happy birthday to me!"

"Happy birthday, Professor!" Mr. Bradley smiled and they touched their glasses with a clink. "By the way… you were talking about the Potters in plural… did not only one Potter save your life?"

"If only one of them did!" Snape snorted. "No… Harry Potter also saved me… at Stonehenge… but I'm not celebrating that day, too… it would be… a bit… stupid… to have three birthdays in a year, wouldn't it? Cheers!" with that Snape downed his drink.

"Cheers!" Bert nodded and emptied his glass.

In the next instant, their eyes were forced shut and millions of little stars started to attack them from all directions. They hit them then bounced back from them... the world was spinning around them - they didn't know which way was up and down, they didn't see or hear anything… they felt spinning and spinning and spinning… suddenly it stopped, the little stars disappeared – the world stood still, and they glared at each other, mesmerized.

"Sev?" the caretaker whispered.

"Bertie?" Snape whispered back.

"Oh, Sev…"

* * * * *

Gabrielle was looking out into the moonlit winter wonderland, her heart clenched with worry. She couldn't take her mind off Draco, their secret wedding and the threat that hung over Draco's head like the sword of Damocles. She didn't dare imagine what could be happening to Draco all day – how the discussion with the Gringotts manager was coming along, was Draco still alive at all or was his body already down a sewer? There were too many questions to be answered and the more she thought of them the more worried she felt. Her glance fell upon a ring on her right hand – the silver ring she had received from Draco. The ring depicted two snakes with intertwined bodies. Apart from Gabrielle's loathing for snakes, she found the ring rather pretty.

It was already ten p.m. and quite dark outside when a figure appeared at her gate – the figure had silvery blonde hair that practically shone in the moonlight.

"Draco!" Gabrielle breathed, clutching at the curtain in excitement. He was alive! He was alive and came back to her!

She felt like ripping open the door and throwing herself into her husband's arms, but her proud veela blood kept her back. She adjusted her locks and forced herself to look less excited than she actually was. With the dignity of a princess she opened the door and flicked her wand at the gate, letting Malfoy enter. Her hand was shaking all along and her legs felt like jelly, but she just stood upright in the open door, waiting for the wizard with a haughty expression.

"Zey 'aven't killed you, as I see," she said coolly.

"You could be a bit happier about it," Draco grunted.

"I am 'appy, but don't be mad at me eef I'm not flinging myself on your neck in my ethernal 'appeeness," she replied.

"Pity… but you're right, not even hugging me would warm you up out here, it's damn cold. Of course you could still hug me in your bedroom…" he grinned.

"I told you: we got married, but no sleeping togezzer!"

"You were the one who mentioned it, not me…" he shrugged and walked past her, into the hall.

"So… 'ow comes zat you are not floating in a sewehr yet?" she seated herself on a sofa, motioning him with a graceful gesture to sit down opposite her.

"Dunno… that manager didn't look exactly murderous, you know," Draco said, taking a fluffy cushion into his hand. "He said exactly what I was expecting him to say… he wanted to convince me that no Gringotts goblin would ever dare set fire to a house just because that's mine… then I reminded him that the supposed perpetrators were no more Gringotts goblins, given that they had been sacked after my bank was opened. Then he started to babble everything about goblins' morals – which I know do not exist -, and everything… but I saw through his game, a Malfoy can't be fooled! I politely asked him to talk his fellow-goblins into leaving me in peace or they'll have to bear the consequences in front of the Magical Law Enforcement and the Magical Court of Justice, and the manager reassured me of the goblins' good will towards me and my bank," he made a sarcastic grimace. "Goblins might think that they can lie cleverly, but not if they're lying to a Malfoy. They'll need to get up earlier than that to deceive me!"

"Glad to 'ear, oh ghreat banker!" she crossed her arms.

"Are you making fun of me?" he threw the cushion he had been holding at her.

"Not at all!" she replied, grabbing the same cushion and another one, aiming them at Draco.

In the blink of an eye they were having a furious pillow fight, making the whole house ring with their laughter. Feathers were flying every way from the unfortunate cushions, looking like indoor-snow, settling into both Gabrielle and Draco's hair. When there was only one cushion left in one piece, Draco snatched it before Gabie could and aimed it at the woman with such force that the 'impact' made her tumble backwards and fall onto the sofa – mysteriously Draco also tumbled onto the sofa, right onto her.

"Uh, sorry…" he grinned, not too hasty to get off her.

"I can eemagine 'ow sorry you are," she replied with an angelic smile and pushed him off herself with such a sudden move that in the next instant he found himself lying on the floor.

"Ouch. That hurt," he muttered.

"It was supposed to 'urt, Mr. Self-conceited," Gabrielle replied, standing up and smoothing her robes. "And now, would you pleaze leave my 'ouse?"

"On our wedding night?" he pouted.

"Exactly," she nodded, opening the door for him. 

"When will I see you again?" he asked.

"Why do you want to see me again?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Why _wouldn't _I want to see you? You're my wife."

"I'm your deputy bank-manager, you mean," she corrected him. "And as long as you are alive and able to direct your bank, you do not need me."

"Perhaps… but you, as a deputy manager, are supposed to visit the bank once in a while," Draco reasoned. "Let's say… a five o'clock tea tomorrow – solely for business purposes?"

A small smile appeared on Gabrielle's face, seeing Draco's attempts to get closer to her. But she wouldn't give in so easily. She had been fantasising about this man ever since she was fourteen – she had met him several times in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade over the past ten years and he hadn't given her a look… he was torturing her, unbeknownst to him… and now Gabrielle wanted to return the torture. "Solely for business purhposes, eh? All rhight. We shall 'ave tea – and discuss business. _Only_ business."

"Okay," he grinned. "Good night, Mrs. Malfoy."

Gabie shut the door behind him and had to squeeze her hand over her mouth not to shout with glee _'He called me Mrs Malfoy! He wants to meet me again!_' She had never felt so happy in her whole life, but, at the meantime, she felt a pang of remorse, knowing that her happiness was due to the grief of the Potter family. Had the Potters' house not been burnt down, then the article on goblins vs. Draco Malfoy wouldn't have been published, Draco wouldn't have got jittery about dying and leaving no one to care for his bank, and he wouldn't have married her. 

*Poor Harry,* she thought, then chased the sad feeling of remorse out of her heart so that she could in peace think of her husband and their future together. Yes, their future… for she had decided not to give up on Draco after the one year of troth was over. Poor Draco, he had no idea what he was in for…

* * * * *

Severus opened his eyes, squinting in the relative darkness of a rather unfamiliar room. Some candles were standing on a table, burning low, making the room look eerie. He looked around, feeling dizzy and having a nasty headache, and it slowly dawned on him where he was: in the Shrieking Shack. He was lying in the huge four-poster bed, and he was totally alone. What had happened? - he tried to remember. Oh, yeah, he had brought that caretaker here, they had drunk a glass of champagne to his 'birthday', then… then…

He sat bolt upright. They _hadn't drunk champagne_! There had been two bottles on his table in his room, two identical bottles – one of them containing champagne, the other containing the strongest attraction potion ever! The same attraction potion that he had once force-fed Harry Potter, making him fall for Mrs. Norris! The potion that, if drunk by two persons at the same time, made them… uh-oh…

Snape gulped, and slowly directed his stare downwards, already fearing what he'd see. His gaze shifted to his bare chest, then to his blanket-covered lower parts. With shaking hands he lifted the blanket and almost passed out when he saw that his fears had been proven right.

He was naked.

**A/N**: now you surely want to shout at me: "you evil slash-writer!", but I'm telling you: if you call me a slash writer, you'll regret it soon. Not telling yet, why, just wait, trust me, and you'll see.

I think that Draco acted a bit ooc in this chapter, but I wanted to show that he could be so happy and carefree as well :)

Stay tuned for the next chapter: the longest chapter of the whole series.

_Alexander Phoenix_: yeah, you really say 'poor' too much :) I don't think that I have ever read a fanfic in which Hedwig died. I hope you found this chapter nicer than the last one ;)

_figgiesblazin_: perfect match? Hm… we'll see.

_Tap Dancing Widow_: yes, you're right, Harry is going to go through more. And much worse things.

_jennaration_: glad you liked the religious part :)) Of course Lily is going to get her period soon, but it won't be important in the story.

_sabby_: what's next? Well, now nicer things are coming… for a while. You can enjoy about 10 nice chapters before all hell breaks loose. Harry and Ginny are safe. As for Dan… let's hope so :)

_Black Ice_: you wrote: "_there doesn't seem to be a bad guy causing all of this. The story is almost a 'this is my version of Harry's post Hogwarts life with kids'_." You have no idea how wrong you are. There IS bad guy/gal, and when his/her personality is revealed, it will be the greatest shock in HP fanfic history, you have my promise. Harry will wish he were dead, it will be so dreadful. Originally I wanted to name this story something like The Greatest Shock of Something… but then decided against it. The point it that there is someone bad in this fic, and his/her involvement in some events is great. You cannot imagine how much he/she is involved in things. This story is a lot like an Agatha Christi novel: the interwoven plotlines will be solved at the end, revealing things you have never even dreamed of. Just give me time and be patient with me, okay? Perhaps H and G are acting Mary-Sueish, but soon they won't. I'm giving you a teaser/sneak preview of a H/G scene that comes later: 

_…there was still one person he wanted to give a last glance to…_

_Ginny. _

_His wife. _

_His life. _

_She was the most beautiful thing in his life - and not just her looks, but her heart, the way she loved him – it was simply beautiful… a memory worth of taking with himself to the netherworld._

_She smiled at him – a brave smile it was. There were no tears in her eyes, although she felt like bawling. She kept her tears at bay. She wouldn't cry, wouldn't let Harry pass with the image of her crying when he could pass seeing her smile…  _

_"Thank you for being my wife, Gin. You have been the best thing in my life."_

_"So have been you," she whispered. "I'll be with you soon. Forever."_

He nodded, his eyes fixed at her face. He wouldn't look away from her. Let her be the last person he saw in his life… let him die seeing her smile…

So, did you find this Mary Sueish? Too sappy? Just wondering…

_chrissi:_ I'm glad I managed to make you 'feel' how deeply Harry loves Ginny. Thank you, my grandpa is doing fine :)

_2Coolio_: thanks – I love it when people say 'holy shit', it's so funny!

_jasper:_ oh, so our birthdays are so close to each other :) I got a scanner for mine. What did you get for yours?

_Bucky:_ holy cr*p, Bucky! I'm still laughing when I think of your review! Acromantulas loving Chinese food! That was your best so far, keep such jokes coming, I love them! :D Do you want to be mad at me? Because if you want to, then look at this art of mine – here's the link (you'll have to paste it into your browser because ffnet doesn't let me make proper links): 

  Rest assured that I still hate her, no matter how pretty she is ;)

_Altec:_ I don't think I spelled Sirius with a C, did I? I'm glad I managed to make you 'almost-cry'. I was crying when I wrote 'killing-off-Hedwig', but I think my grandpa's illness added to my bad mood. I'm glad that I'm the only H/G author whose fics you like, it's flattering :D

_C-chan_: S.R.I.C. – hey, I love this! :)) I think that the kid who announced that Neville had a Remembrall in the movie was Dean Thomas. I have never seen/tasted Lemon Drops. I wish I could, if Albus likes them, they must be cool :D I like Bertie Bott's. Yes, feel free to use _Profero Graviditas, _and no, I won't ask you why you need it ;) I haven't seen a single episode of South Park yet. 

_rebkos_: another interesting idea. But no, Voldie had no children (the mere mental image of him having sex with a woman turns my stomach, yuck!) 

_King Jasbon_: the next death comes much later, around the end. Thanks, my grandpa is doing fine :)

_Shazzman_: no, the fact that Lily isn't fully developed isn't important. It just assures the reader that she won't have kids in this fic ;) None of the underage people will, anyway. 

_Muggle:_ thanks for your support and I'm glad you like my stuff ;)

_Sean Mulligan_: my grandpa is doing okay now :) The 500 day rule was mentioned in chapter… er… 9, I think, by Dobby. It means that if two house-elves fall in love and declare their love to each other, then they must not see each other for 1000 days to test their love, and after 1000 days they can start dating, but they mustn't have sex for 500 days. (Dan and Norbert made snide remarks about house-elf rules being stupid).

_seashell:_ I know fictionalley pretty well, but I only read fics on schnoogle, I don't like the Astronomy Tower for example (I haven't been able to find a decent fic on AT up till now, but schnoogle has many good fics). Sometimes I look at the art section as well. Perhaps one day I'll post my arts there. What do you mean by 'Snape and Bradley dig each other?' is 'dig' some kind of a slang here? Sorry, but I'm not familiar with it, I don't know too many slangs :( I agree, Liu belongs with a rat (hm, if Pettigrew hadn't got stuck in that pyramid, he'd make a nice hubby for her or for Cho ;) I hope you are feeling well now (you said you were sick).

_Indigo Ziona_: yep, Cho is a bitch ;) But I drew a nice pic of her. Wanna see it? Then go to:

_Wood's secret lover_: how could I be so horrible? Hm… dunno. It's in my nature (just kidding, I'm a really nice girl, I just love writing sadistic things ;) No, you couldn't guess Dobby and Dinky's kid's name. You'll find out what it is in chapter 27. And no, this kid won't die. About the vicar: I think I kind of copied the reverend from Disney's The Parent Trap – the reverend in there was very funny and loved alcoholic drinks ;) The funny thing is that I didn't even realise I was copying him until my friend Toby Haine mentioned the movie Parent Trap: then I suddenly realised that my vicar was a lot like the reverend from that film.

_Houou_: I don't think that Doris is evil, she's just a crazy old bat like Trelawney. I think Trelawney isn't evil either, just crazy. 

_Kit Cloudkicker_: yes, Hedwig was very brave *sniff, sniff*

_Katrina:_ Cho and Liu are two of a kind ;)

_No longer a Lone Wolf_: of course Lea is clever! All the Potters are clever, it runs in the family! :D 

_Red Ridding Hood:_ Harry meant it in a sarcastic way: now he either doesn't believe in God at all, or thinks that God hates him. Oh, but of course it was Norbert's first kiss! Why would he lie about this? I swear it was his first. You almost cried? Oooooh… I'm happy! *now you're scowling at me madly* - I'm happy because that means I managed to reach my goal: to make that scene really touching. Well, Harry did fire Dinky…

_Keila:_ glad you liked them :)

_AmandaPanda_: nope, the elf kid won't be important.

_Katie Bell_: thanks. It's okay, not everyone can be religious. And don't worry, no religion comes up in the future. Or rather put it this way: there will be one single sentence in the final chapter in connection with religion, but that's all.

_Brat Pack Girl_: I can't tell you whom I'm going to murder next. But for quite a while no one will die.

_FireBolt9000_: okay, I'm not asking, inside jokes are hard to explain.

_Colibi:_ yes, rest assured that the ending will be a 'they lived happily ever after' one :) And the final line of the story will be just as funny/surprising as the final lines of the first two stories. That's a nice tradition I'm going to keep: always end my fics in a funny way.

_Princess Ginny_: why did Neville and Draco show up? Well, they just wanted to help, out of the goodness of their hearts :D

_Toby Haine_: I'm glad you thought that last chapter was my best so far, because that was my opinion, too. However, the very best chapters (IMHO) will be chapters 27-29. Perhaps also chapter 30. 

_VegaKeep:_ why are the American Corporate Exec's dirty? Why do they play dirty? And uh… who exactly are they? Sorry, I have no idea.

_Lady Schezar_: I'm glad you aimed all your hexes at Cho, she deserves them! Norbert and Lily… who knows?

_ErisedLily:_ I'm happy you think that the nasty twists add to the story. I also think that H and G throwing daisies would be utterly boring. Unfortunately I have read some (many) stories like that. But not anymore. 

_PheonixFire_: hm, I had no idea how a woman who has just miscarried would act – I've never known anyone personally who has miscarried. I just thought that Ginny would perhaps want to replace the lost child with another. Oh yes, a lot of Imaginer stuff is coming up! :) About Harry's relationship to God: you'll see that in the final chapter. (don't imagine a huge religious stuff there, just one single line, but it will tell everything).

_Saphron_: well, there WERE Draco/Gabie moments in this one ;) 

_apple-pie_: don't worry, the next 10 or so chapters will be much happier than the last two. Glad you liked the religious part :)

_Kristen Michelle_: it seems you were really shocked about Hedwig's death. Sorry. I'm glad you didn't write a real flame :D

_Inken:_ Lea wasn't left alone with Hedwig: the two house-elves were 'taking care of her', or put it this way: they were _supposed to_ look after her if they hadn't been doing some other stuff… *coughsexcough*. I understand what you mean about religious stuff, and I'm not taken with the Church myself. The Church did terrible things in the middle ages, but as an extremely clever Ethics professor told us in the college: "_Never mistake the idea for the institution. The idea – Christianity – is beautiful and totally all right. The institution – the Church – isn't all right_." And I have to agree with him. The idea of Christianity is cool, everything Jesus taught us is wonderful, but the Church did dreadful things in the name of God (and I think that God must be also mad at the Church for that!) No, Lily-not-being-a-big-girl-yet isn't important. I also don't understand why some girls look forward to it. I remember I cried when I had my first period. I felt utterly miserable ;) About Neville's parents, here's a quote from chapter 34 of TGSiHH: _Voldemort's death had a tremendous impact on the whole wizarding world – the evil was dead and the evil charms due to his tyranny lost their effects on the still living victims. Neville got his parents back. _Lucius Malfoy, who had also been driven mad by the Cruciatus that Voldemort put on him in chapter 16 of TGSiHH, also got healed when Voldemort died.

_Prongs:_ perhaps it was the enemy who did it… this chapter makes you think that, doesn't it? 

_tarantula_: Hedwig's death was just an additional torture for Harry, the more important thing was the house burning down. Everything about this will be explained in chapter… 28, I think. 

_Nefertiri:_ I don't think that Hedwig will die in book five. Rowling said that she wrote about a terrible death in book five – a death that was extremely hard for her to write, and I don't think that she'd feel so miserable about killing Hedwig. I for one believe that Hagrid will die in book five. Yes, most of the story will take place at Hogwarts. Congrats on winning in basketball! :) How did your last match go?

_ruffled owl:_ whew, that's a relief! You know that I was afraid why *you* would say about the religion part? 'Cause I knew you had to be Jewish, since you said you read the HP books in Hebrew ;) So, I was kinda afraid, what a Jewish person would say, and I'm very happy that you liked it! :D

_Sky_: really? You like Lea so much? :)) I haven't seen that horse-episode of Little House.

_Inigma:_ glad you liked it.

_Jennifer W_: yes, in the end everything will get all right for the Potters, you have my word :)

_JustChrys_: you wrote: "_poor Harry. I'm almost afraid to see what's next for him_!" Well, something worse… much worse. In case you want to know how much worse it is, read the italicised sneak preview I put in my reply to Black Ice. *hah, I'm very evil, I should feel ashamed!*

_loveatfirstsight:_ no, there won't be a sequel to this one, this is the end. But I might write other stories (very likely H/G) and also outtakes from these three fics, like I wrote Starry Night and Racoon Bite.

_Squalldaman:_ don't worry, there'll be a lot about the kids. Funny that you say the H/G parts are boring and I should be focusing on the kids, while other say there's too little about H/G in this fic so I should focus more on them than on the kids… unfortunately I cannot satisfy everyone's wishes, but rest assured that there'll be a lot about the kids in the near future :)

_Autumn Dreams_: well, my birthday wasn't very special, but I got a scanner, and that WAS special :) Glad you liked the flower-scene :D Yup, I thought that it would be very Harryish to make him run his hand through his hair, it's somehow cute, I guess ;)

_goldenstar555_: yep, more bad things are coming for poor Harry… but for a while he'll be safe.

_tyleet:_ oh, now I understand the dodgeball thingie! Thanks for the explanation!

_EchoLark:_ no, Gin's miscarriage had nothing to do with Harry's wish. It had something to do with something else, but I'm not telling yet what is it ;) What? The Potters moving in with Draco? Ooooooh… my mum asked my why I was laughing so hard… then I told her your idea… hilarious! Yes, my birthday is 19th February. Well then happy belated birthday to Joe! :)

_Harrysgirl_: well, now you know why the elves didn't help Lea ;) Nasty, kinky elves! Yes, the twins are serious about the reconciliation. Kevin won't break his dumb pride… yet. Liu's a freak like her mum, that's all I can say :D About the next Potter baby – if there'll be one, that is – it won't/wouldn't be born in this fic, since the fic ends in July and now it's January, and a baby needs nine months ;) Draco doesn't like Ginny that way anymore. Well, now you know how the fire started.

_Aimee_: yes, the miscarriage had a reason as 80% of the things happening in this story have a reason. You'll get to know in chapter 28. The timing (Christmas) was just a nasty idea of mine: to make Ginny and Harry be even more miserable that it had to happen on that wonderful holiday. Yes, I'm sure that Harry fixed Gin's 'pregnancy dress', and perhaps she'll wear it again some day ;) Is your new cousin or a boy or a girl? And what's his/her name?

_thecrazygirl:_ I've updated quick enough, haven't I? :)

_Lana Riddle_: I'm glad I managed to make last chapter touching. I was bawling like a baby when I killed off Hedwig :(

_Makayla P.:_ when have I said that Snape was gay? *grins* just wait it out, you'll be VERY surprised!

_Zenon Lee_: no, I'm not going to kill off the Potters… at least surely not all of them ;) Who caused the fire? Well… this chapter told you a lot about him/her… but I can't reveal it yet.  No, no divine retribution, I'd never ever write about such a thing. About someone cursing the Potters… well, Harry in the next chapter will say that he believes his family is cursed, but no, it isn't. Perhaps it's the greatest enemy behind all this… who knows? *enigmatic smile* And yes, more evil coming. There'll be peace for about 10 chapters, then all hell will break lose, so be prepared for the evilest twist in Harry Potter fanfic history (it's so very evil that at first I didn't even consider writing it, then I mentioned that idea to my mum and she said how wicked it was and that I just HAD TO write it. She convinced me ;)

_Mage_: welcome back, it's nice to see you again – I thought you have forgotten about me, so I'm glad that you haven't! *waves happily at Mage* As to your question: it's NOT out of the question. I'm evil, so the answer might be yes.

_Rab_: I hope you're doing better now :) No, Millicent's baby won't be in the story, but she won't miscarry. Yes, you'll get the baby elf in the story :D 

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: Cho is nasty, but she isn't the greatest enemy and had nothing to do with the fire. No problem, you didn't make me feel bad – I know that there are way too many coincidences in my fics – but in this one there won't be that many, I think. However, I don't think that I really described Harry in all his glory. For example, I never used words the actual names of the sex organs in my stories I used 'metaphors' and 'euphemisms' – like "two wands" - instead of the actual names of the organs. Glad you liked my Aberforth, he's one of my favourite characters – I just love crazy guys! :) Yep, you're right, my stories are like a jigsaw puzzle – and I think that this one is the one that resembles a jigsaw most. I have already read the Draco Malfoy the amazing bouncing rat – about half a year ago – and loved it. One of the most hilarious HP fanfics ever. There's only that I found even funnier, it's Naked Quidditch Match by Anya and can be found on www.gryffindortower.net . Go and check it out, it's hilarious! And thanks for the long review. Btw, my grandpa is doing fine, he has healed since he was operated :)

_Wizzabee:_ no, Harry won't cheat on Ginny. The Durmstrang chick who seduced Harry was called Tatyana – do not forget her name, she might be mentioned again. Nope, Cho isn't really evil, just nasty.

_heavenly182angel:_ thanks, my grandpa is doing much better :) Yes, Harry was being sarcastic at the end of the previous chapter. Yeah, it's funny that elves should break rules ;)


	18. Love hurts

**A/N:** well, that was quite a quick update, wasn't it? :D

Just letting you know that I'm posting TGSiHH to www.checkmated.com . There's a short new scene in chapter 11 there that wasn't there in the original version. I wonder whether anyone would recognise the new scene ;)

**Chapter 18**

**Love hurts**

Albus Dumbledore was reading a new part of his ancestor's – Helga Hufflepuff's son's – diary that dealt with Godwin Potter's Imaginer self-tutoring. He and Daniel had already covered several pages of the diary and the boy had advanced to a level that allowed him to imagine small objects turning into other small objects whenever he wanted to, but he was still unable to manage harder tasks intentionally. It seemed that he was only able to imagine huge and dangerous things when he was shocked or angry or both. 

Daniel seemed to be a very diligent student if Imagination was concerned, but as Albus had heard, Dan was by far not so diligent when it came to subjects like History of Magic, Potions or Herbology. And Dumbledore totally understood him. As a child he had slept through several History of Magic classes – a wonder that he had managed to learn something about goblins at all.

After the one-week-long holiday break, Albus had decided to make Daniel train harder than before, knowing that fledging Imaginers could be dangerous, so the more trained Dan was, the better. For this evening, Albus had planned to cover the 'imagining small animals turning into objects and vice versa' topic. He had just started to make notes for the evening's training session when the door of his study banged open and a very upset Severus Snape burst in.

"Albus! Enough of this!" he shouted. "I demand that you fire the caretaker at once!"

"Severus…" the headmaster frowned, "please, have a seat, then tell me what happened."

"Thank you, but I'm in no mood for sitting!" the Potions Master slapped Dumbledore's table irritably. "Fire Bert Bradley!"

"But why?" Albus made a surprised expression.

"Because… because I can't live with the knowledge that he's around! I'm fed up!"

"Severus!" the headmaster said in a scolding way, "You are demanding that I sack our new caretaker who not only proved to be a very hardworking person, but also managed to gain the students' sympathy – something that Mr. Filch couldn't say about himself. I for one also have grown to like Mr. Bradley, thus I must ask you to give your reasons why I should fire him… and they have to be good reasons, Severus. So, _why_?" 

"Because… he's way too young for a caretaker. Too young and too… modern-minded. I mean… he's become friends with the students and that is something I find ridiculous. The students do not fear him at all like they did in Filch's case, they treat him as a buddy and do not care if they dirty the corridors because they know Mr. Bradley will not punish them. Such leniency does not do good to the children's morals."

"I for one think it's nice that our new caretaker can treat children so wonderfully," the headmaster replied. "I always found Argus' hate for our pupils rather disturbing."

"Okay, then…" Snape seemed to be looking for another reason. "Mr. Bradley is way too small and fragile to do the tasks of a caretaker. He should be removed from the school, in his own interest."

"In his own interest?" Albus gave him a quizzical look. "My, my, Severus, I never thought you'd feel worried about the health of a mere Muggle caretaker. It is so not like you."

"You are right, Albus! He is a _mere Muggle_! That is the other reason for getting rid of him. Hogwarts is no place for Muggles! Not to mention that he's been twisting my arm to teach him Potions ever since he arrived here…"

"…and I heard that you have got Muggle Chemistry lessons of him in return," Albus reminded the other man. "He didn't ask for free tutoring, he paid it back to you. And as far as I know, he's become pretty good at Potions."

"Good yes, that is why he's become complacent. He's always been complacent. Back in September, he just came into my class and informed the students that I made a mistake. He humbled me in front of my pupils! How dare a caretaker do such a thing? How dare he question my expertise?!?"

"He did not question your expertise," Albus said. "He was right – wasn't he? You indeed made a mistake, didn't you?"

"Oh, great, so he told you all about it," Snape growled. "Not only complacent, but a sneak, too. Wonderful."

"It wasn't him who told me about this, but he was right. _Wasn't he_?" the headmaster repeated his question.

"Yeah, he was, but…"

"No buts. If he was right, then he also had the right to correct you, Severus."

"But… my reputation! What about my reputation as a professor? And what about my reputation as a wizard and a man? That caretaker persuaded me to wear the old Mrs. Longbottom's outfit, making a ridicule of myself! The newspapers described me as a transvestite! I'm fed up with Bert Bradley! I'm fed up that he can talk me into anything! I'm fed up with everything! I simply cannot bear him around anymore!"

Dumbledore leant back into his armchair, giving the other wizard a penetrating stare. "These are no reasons for sacking Mr. Bradley. I know him for fair, hardworking and not at all complacent. You haven't convinced me, Severus. Give me a _good_ reason. A really good one. Why do you want me to fire him?"

Snape's face contorted into a mask of despise and disgust, but they rather seemed to be directed at himself, as though he had despised himself for some reason… Dumbledore had seen him angry and annoyed several times, but never like this. The Potions Master seemed to be in a struggle with himself, contemplating whether to say or not to say something…

"Because… I think… I'm in love… with him," he said finally, very quietly. Albus had never heard Severus whisper anything – Severus had always been confident enough to talk aloud, but this little line must have been something that he didn't feel confident enough to say aloud.

"Excuse me, Severus?" Dumbledore blinked. "What… what did you say?"

"You heard it well enough, Albus!" Snape snapped irritably. "Do not force me to repeat it, because I won't… I can't…"

"Because you're afraid," the headmaster nodded.

Snape's black eyes met his blue ones, and Albus was startled to see submission in the other man's eyes. Surrender. A man like Severus Snape, who had never before surrendered to anyone – not even Voldemort – now got grounded by the recognition that he was in love. With a man.

Sighing, Snape slipped down into the chair facing the headmaster's and propped his forehead into his palms, not daring to look into Albus' eyes. "I have slept with him," he whispered.

"Have you, Severus?" Dumbledore looked appalled.

"Yeah… at least I guess I must have," Snape looked up with burning cheeks. No one before had seen him so red, as though his usual pallor had never existed. 

"You must have? Aren't you sure you did?"

"No… but very likely it had happened. Yesterday evening I got a bit… drunk, and invited Bradley to the Shrieking Shag… er, Shack…" he hid his face again, shaking his head in disbelief. "Sorry, Albus, my mind is no longer my own, it seems… I must have gone mad, I… damn it, I have fucked a man!"

"Now, now, Severus…" Dumbledore tried to soothe him with a benign smile. "You said you were drunk, so maybe it didn't even happen… you don't remember what happened, right?"

"Correct," Snape grunted. "But I'm almost sure it had happened, because… I had picked up a bottle from my study table before we left for the Shrieking Sh… the tunnel, and there was another identical bottle next to it, and I must have been so drunk that I took the wrong one… I wanted to take champagne, and I took the _Inclinatio Animi_ potion! You know what that means, don't you?"

"Attraction, as far as I remember from my Latin classes… so, you both drank it?"

"Yes. You know that if only one person drinks it, then he falls for the first person he sees, but… but if two people drink it at the same time and see each other as the first persons, then… they go mad with desire, and… and that must have happened to us, but all I remember is that we drank it, then… I don't know… the fact is that if the _Inclinatio Animi_ potion gets mixed with alcohol – and in my stomach it definitely did -, then it causes the drinker to forget things… thus I don't remember what happened there, but… but when I woke up in the four-poster bed in the Shack, I saw that I was stark naked, Albus! There's no way that nothing has happened there! My clothes were lying discarded on the floor, as though I had ripped them off, and… I have never felt so ashamed before," he met Dumbledore's eyes and was shocked to see that the headmaster was smiling in a furtive way. "What – is – so – funny – Albus?" he hissed. "I have just told you the most terrible secret of my life and you're smiling?!? Don't you understand, Albus? Up till now I have only loved one single person – Lily Evans! And now I must admit that I'm gay!"

"Oh, that's not that terrible at all, I for one had a short relationship with a goat…" Albus's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Being gay is not such a big business nowadays… we are living in modern times, Severus… Anyway… the fact that you slept with Mr. Bradley due to that potion does not mean that you are homosexual."

"I know… but I still must be, because… I have been feeling so strange towards Bradley ever since he came to Hogwarts…" Snape nervously ran his hand through his locks, "I immediately felt attracted to him… at first I thought it was just respect because he was good at Chemistry and loved Potions, then… slowly I realised that it was more… when he burst into the infirmary after the spider attack, I… I felt engulfed in something warm… I was happy that he had come to me and worried about me… then one day before Christmas I just… washed my hair… and I've done it twice since then!"

"Yes, I noticed it," Dumbledore nodded with mischievously twinkling eyes. "And I was quite surprised… as was everyone else at Hogwarts, I suppose."

"Whatever," Snape growled. "I did it and I couldn't explain to myself why I did it, but now I understand: I wanted Bert to like me…damn him. I can't live with the thought of him being here, having to meet him every day and having to look into his eyes… either he goes or I go."

"Don't be silly, Severus," Albus said. "Hogwarts cannot do without either you or the caretaker. We need both of you. If you don't want to meet him, then avoid him, that's so simple."

"Simple for you, you mean," the Potions Master scowled. "You have never been gay."

"That's true, Severus, but I'm sure that you'll manage to work this out. I have faith in you."

"The problem is that I don't have faith in myself anymore," Snape sighed. "I don't understand, Albus… I simply don't understand how I could have fallen for a male when I used to love Lily so much… am I bisexual?"

"Well, how could I know?" Dumbledore gave him an innocent smile, though his eyes were glinting in a way that they – if Snape had paid better attention he would have seen – were radiating _'I know, I know better than you do, Severus'_. 

"All right, then… you're not firing him. Then I'll have to keep myself as far from him as possible."

"Okay, keep yourself far from him… but why, Severus?" Albus raised an eyebrow.

"Why? You really have to ask why?" Snape snapped. "Because I can't, I don't want to accept what I'm feeling for him… I'm not going to let last night happen again! I'm disgusted by the thought that we have… I don't even know who played the male and who the… I don't even want to think of it! I'm going to avoid him and from now on I'm going to keep my eyes open."

"Do so, Severus. You have no idea how much you need to keep your eyes open."

"What do you mean by that?" the Potions teacher frowned.

"Nothing, Severus, nothing," Dumbledore smiled – a smile that was rather a grin again. Severus had the feeling that the headmaster either knew something that he didn't, or was downright amused by his misery, but the latter just wasn't characteristic of Albus Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore didn't seem willing to tell Severus anything right now.

* * * * *

"What are you looking at?"

"Huh?" Lily shuddered and looked away from the window she had been standing by on the Charms corridor, to see Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy behind her. "Oh, it's you."

"Yes, it's me, and I've been wondering what you were looking at."

"Just Harry," she pointed out the window – a small black dot was pacing up and down in the snow in a way that suggested that the 'dot' had no idea where to go or what to do – it was just pacing, aimless. 

"What is he doing outside on a day like this? It's freezing!" Norbert said.

"I guess he just wanted to be alone a bit… he has gone through too much lately to get over it as quickly as we'd like to. He's crushed. Mum tried to talk to him, but he is inconsolable…" she sniffed, a tear coursing down her cheek. "It's so terrible that I can't help him."

Norbert reached out to wipe away the tear and gently caressed her cheek. "Don't cry, Lils. Your red hair is gorgeous, but red eyes aren't."

"Why are you so kind to me?" she asked, not really understanding why a Malfoy would want to be nice to a Potter.

"Why shouldn't I be? You're my best friend's sister," he shrugged. "So I'd like to be your friend as well."

"My _friend_?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Or something like that," he smiled.

"What do you mean by 'something like that'?" she blew her nose, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Well…" his mouth tucked into a grin, "you could be my friend… or my girlfriend… the two words are quite similar…"

"But their meanings aren't," Lily said. "How could you expect me to be your… girlfriend, when you're just eleven? I'm two years older than you are, and… and…"

"…and you can't find any more excuses, but the age-difference," he perceived and edged closer to her.

"But I do, I can!" she took a step backwards. "You're a Malfoy and I'm a Potter! Our families are enemies, and…"

"…and my best friend is still a Potter," he reminded her and moved closer again. She wanted to back away, but there was no room for her to move – she was already leaning to the window-frame. "Do not try to escape from me, Lily…" he said, his grey eyes staring deeply into her green ones.

"I'm… I'm not trying to escape…" she gulped, feeling petrified by his glance. This boy was so strange, so inexplicable to her… somehow she had a feeling that Norbert, at the age of eleven, was much more mature than she was… as if he had been carrying a huge amount of knowledge and experience that a first-year wasn't supposed to possess… he scared her, still made her shiver with excitement whenever he was near. *Think of Christopher Wood, think of him!* She told herself, while staring into this boy's eyes. Christopher didn't have such mesmerizing eyes, nor did he manage to send chills down her spine – but what was she thinking? This boy was practically a baby! Boys of his age never were as daring towards girls as he was – or was that only the famous Malfoy impertinence? Somehow she doubted it. She had met Draco Malfoy several times since her family had moved to Hogsmeade, and she had the impression that Norbert, though twenty years younger than his brother, was much more resolute and grown-up than the blonde wizard. Norbert, for example, would very possibly never have started to prune his neighbour's bush that jutted into his garden just to annoy the neighbour. Such things were simply beneath his dignity. This boy was a mystery to her – a mystery that she wasn't likely to solve any time soon. He kept startling her again and again – this time, too, for suddenly he stepped back and nodded.

"All right. I see that you are afraid. Don't worry, I'm not the type to beseech anyone to do something… if you don't want to, then you don't need to. I just wanted to be your friend."

He turned on his heels, looking downright hurt, as if the 'grown-up' person had suddenly turned into a sulky little boy. He looked so endearing that way that Lily began to feel pangs of remorse.

"Wait!" she called after him.

"Why?" he doubled back, pouting.

"I… I didn't want to hurt you," she wrung her hands nervously. "I… I'm sorry. I'd like to be your friend. Not girlfriend, but friend. Is that… okay for you?"

A small smiled appeared on his face. "'Course it is, Lily," he bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks."

She blushed. "Uh, where's Dan?"

"In detention… you know, the Liu Chang business."

"Aha," she nodded knowingly and the two of them exchanged an impish grin.

* * * * *

Bert Bradley hadn't exited his room the whole day, fearing that he might meet someone he didn't want to. He neglected his duties as a caretaker and let the Hogwarts corridors remain dirty with the sludge the students had carried into the building on their boots. He did not seem to care for anything but his guilty conscience.

At first he didn't even hear the knock on the door – he only noticed it when it was repeated.

"Who's there?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"Me, Neville!" came the answer.

"Come in," Bert sighed.

Professor Longbottom entered with a small smile that disappeared immediately when he caught a glimpse of the caretaker's expression.

"What happened?" Neville hurried up to him and sat down on the sofa next to him.

"Nothing," Bert shrugged.

"Don't lie to me," the Flying Professor said. "Tell me what happened."

"Sorry, but it's none of your business."

Neville rolled his eyes. "As long as I'm your brother-in-law, it _is_ my business. I care for you, silly. Mary-Sue loves you very much and I love everyone she loves. So tell me, what's bothering you?"

Bert looked at Longbottom and opened his mouth to say something but no voice came out. He shook his head and looked away.

"Does it have something to do with that jerk Philippe?"

"No," Bert sighed. "I haven't heard anything about him since July…"

"Then what is your problem?" Neville asked, his voice pleading. "You scared me, really, I thought he had been seen lurking around. But if it's not him that's bothering you, then what?"

"Oh, Nev…" the caretaker sniffed, "My love life is such a mess… why do I always have to love people who aren't the ones for me?"

"Do you mean… that you're in love again?" Neville frowned.

"Unfortunately," Bert sighed.

"Who is it?"

"You'd better not know."

"I'd better know… or I can't help you."

"You couldn't help either way… but okay. It's Snape."

"Snape?" Longbottom yelled. "Are you out of your mind? You can't love someone like that git! That guy is unable of feeling anything but hatred and despise, he…"

"Neville!" Bert waved to shut him up. "It's not like that. You don't know him. All you know about him is that he used to bully you in classes… but I got to know him over the last few months, and he does have feelings… he is more sensitive than you could imagine…"

"He must be, because I can't imagine Snape being sensitive _at all_," Neville grunted.

"He is. Believe me, he is. He just doesn't show it because he thinks that he'd look weak if he did… He is a good man, but… he must hate me now!" he hid his face into his hands.

"Hate you?" Longbottom knitted his eyebrows. "Why would he hate you… I mean, why would he hate you more than he hates everyone else?"

"Because… because I slept with him," Bert whispered.

"WHAT???" all the blood rushed out of Neville's face. "You don't mean it!"

"Oh, yes, I do."

"But… then he knows that you… doesn't he?"

"I don't think so," Bert shook his head.

"Now wait a minute…" Neville cut in. "You mean you two had sex and he didn't notice something as obvious as that? Not even Snape can be this daft!"

"He's not daft!" the caretaker snapped. "I don't think he noticed, he was too drunk… and I think we were under the effect of some stupid potion as well, so he might not have been conscious of things that happened there… oh, Nev, he must think now that he has done it with… with…"

"I know," Longbottom nodded and a wide smirk appeared on his face. "But he deserves it. The shock, I mean… He deserves the pangs of remorse and the shame he must be feeling now."

"Neville!" Bert shot him a scolding glare. "Don't rejoice at other people's misery… not even if it's Snape! Don't forget that I'm also affected by this… more than you could imagine."

"Sorry," the Flying Professor sighed. "I just imagined his expression when he realised… he has been so nasty to me all along, I just couldn't help being happy that he was feeling miserable… sorry. Tell me… do you really… really love him?"

"I fear so, Nev," the caretaker hung his head. "And it hurts. A lot."

* * * * *

It was four p.m., and it was already dark, given that it was winter. Harry didn't know how long he had been out, walking on the snowy fields - he didn't notice the progress of time, he didn't notice that it had grown dark, he didn't even notice that he had frozen to the bones. He just kept treading the snow, his head full of thoughts that he wanted to banish from there: the image of a crying Ginny standing in a puddle of blood, the image of his house in flames and his owl lying motionless in his arms… sounds of sobs, screams and the crackling of fire… he felt he was a step from going mad. Why did all these things happen? Just to delight Trelawney that she had been right? He doubted that. 

A crow swooped above his head, cawing, interrupting his train of thought. He looked up and was surprised to see how far he had walked from the castle. Suddenly he heard voices calling out to him – voices he hadn't heard ever since he had been at Durmstrang.

He looked to the left and saw eight reindeers standing behind a bush, grazing on a patch of grass that protruded from under the thick layer of snow.

"Hi," Harry greeted them. "Long time, no see."

"Very long," replied Rudolph. "The last time we saw you, you were looking just as devastated as now. Why are you concerned again, Harry Potter?"

"It's so hard to talk about… you know, the whole world seems to be collapsing around me, and I don't know why."

"There's a reason for everything," a female reindeer commented wisely.

"But… I just don't see what reason there might be for my son getting into Slytherin and becoming enemies with his former best friends, or my wife loosing our baby, or the goblins mistaking Malfoy's house for mine, or my pet dying in the fire…" Harry shook his head. "It all does not make sense. I start to believe that these things aren't… can't be mere coincidences. Either I'm cursed with an ill-luck curse or… I don't know."

"You might know it, in time," Rudolph said. "We hope everything is going to turn okay for you."

"Thanks," Harry said.

"Talking to your mates, eh?"

Harry shuddered and saw Aberforth Dumbledore standing behind him with the little golden baby unicorn, Angel. "Oh, hello, Aberforth. What are you doing out here in such a cold?"

"I could be asking you the same, kid," the old wizard grinned. "I've just taken Angel out for a walk, but truth be told I've got frozen… I don't feel my fingertips anymore."

"Come to think of it… neither do I," said Harry.

"Then come, hop into my sled, I'll take you back to the castle," Aberforth waved his wand and attached the sleigh to the reindeers' reins. Harry obliged, because the thought of the heating-charmed blankets in the sled was rather alluring. Aberforth jumped into the sleigh next to him and put Angel between the two of them. 

The little unicorn immediately snuggled its muzzle to Harry and the young wizard started stroking her.

"She likes you," Dumbledore perceived. "And that's a rare thing because she doesn't like too many people."

"She's cute," Harry smiled, scratching the golden ears of the small animal. Angel lifted its head to look into his eyes and Harry saw familiar warmth in those amber eyes – a familiar warmth and kindness… Hedwig used to look at him like that. His heart clenched and he had to blink back a tear.

"You all right?" asked Aberforth, casting a sideways glance at him.

"Yeah."

"You don't look it, kid. See, I know how you feel now… you have been through a lot lately, but terrible things have happened to you several times before and you always managed to overcome them…"

"I know… but this is different," Harry sighed. "I mean… first there was Voldemort who wanted to kill me – his intentions were clear, easy to understand. Then there was Tatyana… she was a psycho, but she also had rather clear aims, but now… I don't know whether all these things are just a trick of ill-fate or… somehow deliberate?"

"Oh, come on, kid, how could they be deliberate?" Aberforth frowned. "Okay, your house was burnt deliberately, but the goblins made a mistake, they intended to burn down Malfoy's. It wasn't directed at you."

"I know, still… there are lots of things that I don't understand. I mean… my son is a Slytherin. Okay, the Hat might have been right, because Dan turned out to be a bit vindictive and thirsting to prove himself more than I thought before, so that's settled. But… why Ginny and the baby? They were both totally healthy, according to Pomfrey. What curse has been cast on my family, Aberforth?"

"Curse? Oh, come off it, Harry. There are no ill-fate curses… and I don't think that anyone in your family has broken a mirror or had a black cat walking across the street in front of them… these are stupid superstitions, and I know you to be wiser than to believe in such things."

"I wish I could be wiser," Harry sighed, massaging his forehead – he was having a serious headache. "I guess I've caught the flu. Silly me, strolling outside in minus ten degrees for hours… no wonder that I got sick."

"You don't seem to be sick, kid," the old wizard knitted his eyebrows. "You don't look pale or anything…" he reached out to touch Harry's forehead.

Harry recoiled. "Ouch!"

"You don't have a fever, either. Are you in pain?"

"A headache… a bad headache, nothing else," Harry muttered, now keeping one hand on his forehead all the time. He was grateful when the sled touched down in front of the castle a minute later. "Thanks for the ride, Aberforth."

"I suggest you go and see Poppy, kid," the old wizard said as Angel licked Harry's hand as a good-bye.

"I will," young Potter nodded and entered the castle, but changed his mind about visiting the infirmary because in the warmth of the building his pains ceased at once. 

The next few weeks rushed by, uneventful. Ginny and the Potter kids were living in Mrs. Figg's pension while their house was being restored to its original state by architect wizards. Ginny had befriended Arabella and Mary-Sue, Neville's wife. The Longbottoms still hadn't bought an own house in the village, so all of them were living in the pension. Lea Potter made friends with Eve Longbottom and the triplets made friends with the old lady's twenty-five cats (that still made Eve allergic). 

Honeydukes was running pretty well, though Cho's McRice was a bit of a competition for both Honeydukes and theThree Broomsticks. Whenever Ginny and Cho met on the street, they diverted their eyes – Ginny for knowing that Cho loved Harry, Cho for knowing that Harry loved Ginny. Certainly Ginny had never heard Cho saying that she _loved _Harry, but seeing them in the Three Broomsticks just before the fire broke out was enough for her to draw the conclusion.

Harry's mood was also getting better, but it was a slow process. Ginny, who had been grieving over the loss of their child, and Harry, who had been grieving over the loss of Hedwig, realised that consoling each other was the quickest way of healing. This consoling, however, was solely platonic with some kisses and caresses here and there, but they hadn't slept together since before Christmas. Still, Harry wasn't complaining – his grief was too deep to think that a good shag would put him right again. For the first time in his life, he experienced that one could heal others and be healed by others by solely looking into their eyes and sending a silent message 'I love you, hold out'.

It was the same on Valentine's Day. Usually this day had been The Day of Mindless Lovemaking for him and Ginny, but not this year. This year they just held each other, relishing the feeling of the other being so close. They had reached a new level of their relationship – a level on which they managed to understand each other without saying words. To Harry it felt like perfection. Ginny was not only his lover, not only a warm body that snuggled into his embrace in bed, not only the mother of his children – she had become more of a soul-mate.

He remembered what it had been when Ginny had died – he had felt empty and missed her terribly, but their love had been very young and inexperienced at that time. Back then, they had been two bodies that had occasionally melted into one being, but their minds had been separate. Now, he sometimes felt that they were sharing the same thoughts, as though they were one single entity. It was exhilarating and scary at once. They still had much to learn about the other, but learning led to understanding and understanding led to healing.

Valentine's Day in the year 2012 was a Tuesday, and on Tuesdays, Harry did not have any classes to teach, so he could hurry to his family in Hogsmeade. He also wanted to leave the school to be as far from the female students as possible and as soon as possible, because he did not wish to get even more cards that day. Up till nine o'clock in the morning, he had received 41. He hoped that by leaving the castle he'd be safe from the Valentines.

On his way to Mrs. Figg's pension, he visited their house – it was nearly back to its original state and in one or two weeks they'd be able to move back. Ginny had feared that Harry wouldn't want to move back into that house after what had happened to Hedwig there, but Harry couldn't wait to live there again. The children had loved that house and he had loved arguing with neighbour Malfoy. Speaking of Malfoy… Draco had been seen with Gabrielle a lot. And not only on the street, but even in Fleur's florist's shop and Draco's bank. They seemed to have become friends… or more?

"You won't guess whom I saw exiting Gabrielle's house this morning," Harry told his wife after handing her a huge bouquet of red roses.

"Who?" she smiled.

"Malfoy."

"Really?" she grinned. "Well, I'm not surprised.

"No?" he raised an eyebrow.

"No," she shook her head, placing the roses into a vase. "You don't seem to be a too keen observer, dear."

"What do you mean?"

"Draco's ring."

"What about it?"

"Gabrielle is wearing it."

"You don't mean that he… they got engaged?"

"Dunno," she shrugged. "But I'd be happy for them. Gabie is such a nice girl and Draco… well, he needs someone to love…"

"…after he was hopelessly in love with you for years," Harry finished the sentence.

"Yeah," Ginny nodded. "Draco might look and behave arrogant, but deep down he isn't that bad. Even he deserves to be happy… to be loved."

"How did you notice that it was Malfoy's ring on Gabrielle's hand? I wouldn't have noticed it, that's for sure."

"Because it wasn't you whose hand he had held and caressed in Durmstrang," she grinned. "He has held my hands quite often for me to memorise that snake-shaped ring, you know…"

"Hey, do you know that you're making me feel jealous?" he joked.

"Jealous? Because he held my hand and not yours?" she sent him an impish look.

"I took it as an insult!" Harry looked away, pretending to be hurt. "Anyway, Malfoy's really not my type… if he had a bit more sense for gardening, then maybe…"

"Oh, Harry, you dork!" she playfully boxed him in the chest. "Why would I ever think that you prefer guys, eh?"

"Well, you'd better not even suppose things like that," he grinned back, "but you know what?"

"What?"

"I think Snape does prefer guys."

"What?" her eyes widened. 

"You know the new caretaker, that Bradley? Well, last time I was talking to Dan he mentioned stuff about Bradley and Snape…"

"What stuff? Now you really made me curious!"

"Well… he has seen them several times in autumn – they seemed to be inseparable and according to Dan they were… brace yourself… telling jokes to each other!"

"No!" she breathed.

"Yes. And that's still nothing, on 23rd December – the last day of the term – Snape washed his hair and Dan swore that it was to impress the caretaker."

"Oh, Harry… Dan is just a twelve-year old boy with a wild imagination," she replied. "Really, speaking of _imagination_, how is he progressing?"

"Quite well, according to Albus. But it is getting a bit hard to make up reasons for sending him into 'detention', you know. Sooner or later his friends would start to suspect something, and I already have the impression that he's overworking… his classes, the Imaginer training and even Quidditch training is back… at least his new _Nimbus 4000_ is working fine, he praises it hours on end."

"Then it was a sensible Christmas present, huh?" Ginny smiled in a sad way. 

"Speaking of Quidditch," Harry carried on, "Albus has announced that there will be a special Quidditch match right after the May wizard tournament, as a part of the whole 'Hogwarts is a thousand years old Festivity-series'."

"What special Quidditch match?"

"Well, the students have requested it, in fact, that their parents and teachers played."

Ginny's eyes widened. "What a weird idea."

"Yeah, weird, but I have been asked to play Seeker and Captain for team A, since I'm both a teacher and father of two Hogwarts students. I have to try and organise a decent team of parents and teachers. I thought I'd ask Fred and George to come back and play, and maybe even Ron, I don't know. I'll try and get Oliver and Angelina, too. Pity that Katie and Alicia don't have children who attend Hogwarts, it would be so easy to make a team… Really, dear, wouldn't you like to play?"

"Me?" she blinked.

"Why not? You have been a fair Chaser before you got pregnant with Lily. I heard that Natalie McDonald replaced you, but I don't think she could have been as good as you were."

"Thanks," she grinned. "It is nice to be recognised by my hubby as a fair sportswoman. I'll contemplate it, okay? By the way, who is going to be on team B?"

"Hm, Neville will be Seeker, that's for sure. He wanted to referee the match, but I thought that it wouldn't be fair if I played against someone who has never played professional Quidditch, and finally he agreed. So, we are going to play against each other again... you remember the last time when I played against him?"

"Yeah. The match lasted for two weeks and I was tearing my hair out, not knowing what was keeping you so long. Lucky that at least Ron stayed to watch the match till the end and sent me an owl not to worry about you. Poor Hermione, she was also beside herself, the twins had just been born and Ron was barely seen at home because he was sitting at the stadium, watching Puddlemere and the Whimbourne Wasps killing each other. You know, sometimes I think that you men are totally out of your minds with your crazy Quidditch-mania!"

"I promise you to end the next match earlier than two weeks," Harry grinned. "Back to team B… I guess Marcus Flint is coming to play – you know, his daughter is a first-year Slytherin, but as far as I know the other members of the old Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teams do not have kids at Hogwarts - yet. Many of their children are still too young to come to Hogwarts."

"Oh, yes, because not all of them started conceiving kids at the age of seventeen, did they?" she mocked.

"Yeah… there are people who started to conceive children at the age of _sixteen_, honey," he returned the favour.

"Just because you corrupted me, Harry Potter!" she pointed out.

"Oh, did I?" he grinned.

"Yes, you did," she melted into his embrace and kissed the tip of his nose. "But I have never regretted it."

"Neither have I," he kissed her back – this time on the lips. "I love you. Happy Valentine's Day."

* * * * *

Gilderoy Lockhart looked grouchy. He was wearing a dull and very unlockhartish grey robe to match his mood.

"Why so broken-down, Gilderoy?" Hermione asked, opening a Valentine she had received from Ron. At least her husband didn't forget about this day this year. But, in fact, Ron hadn't forgotten about Valentine's Day ever since their daughters had been born – their first-born had been named Valentine, after all.

"Why so broken-down?" the P.E. teacher grunted. "Harry Potter has received 41 cards while I have only received 40. When I taught Defence Against the Dark Arts here, I received 46."

"Oh, yes, Gilderoy," Hermione smiled, "but you have grown a bit older since then."

"Older?" Lockhart gasped and dashed up into his room to count his wrinkles.

* * * * *

"How should I put it?" Daniel turned to his best friends in the Slytherin common room. "Dear Liu, or My Dear Liu, or just Liu?"

"Write simply My Beloved Exotic Demon," Gilda snorted. 

"Not a bad idea, but… how many x-es are in the word 'exotic'?" Dan mused, chewing the tip of his quill. "Damn, I cannot compose a decent love letter!"

"Then don't write one. Buy her something extremely expensive or terribly cute, like a rat with a pink ribbon around its neck," Gilda shrugged, "but please leave me alone, I need to study."

"For the Potions test? That isn't for three days! You'll have plenty of time for it," Dan shook his head. "Come on, Gilda, don't be like Aunt Hermione, it's Valentine's Day, let your hair down!"

"I cannot, because Snape won't, either, and if I don't study, then I'll get a bad mark."

"I think your problem is not that you'll fail the test, but that you haven't received a single Valentine yet," Norbert interjected.

"Why, have you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Actually I have. The Malfoy-Animal-Magnetism is working on girls, you know."

"I just hope that the girl on whom it worked wasn't my sister Lily," Dan looked up from his letter.

"No," Norbert shook his head and stood up. "I've just realised that I have a present to give to someone. Gotta go."

Gilda shrugged and continued swotting the ingredients of the mind-sharpening potion while Daniel irritably crumpled his parchment and chucked it into the fireplace.

"This is the fourth one that you dropped into the flames in the last thirty minutes. You could have memorised at least ten pages by now if you had been studying instead of gushing about Chang's sexy rear," she said.

"I wasn't writing about her rear!" Dan snapped. "I was writing about her legs… those are very finely shaped, and…"

"Oh, Daniel!" Gilda tutted. "You know absolutely nothing about girls."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because no girl would be happy if you wrote an ode to her finely shaped legs, because girls know what guys associate to legs…"

"What?" Dan blinked.

"…that they want to get between those legs. Really, Dan, you've got to learn a lot."

"Okay, then teach me," he pleaded. "But quick, because I have to send this letter in an hour to get an answer before sunset!"

"Well…" Gilda put her book down. "First of all: tell the girl that she has beautiful eyes. Eyes like infinite pools that you can drown in… then praise her pretty hands."

"What about her lips?"

"That comes later – it can also be interpreted as a nasty association."

"Why? Because of kissing?"

"You know, kissing is not all that a woman can do with her mouth…" she said.

"What else?" Dan asked.

"I guess I'd better not tell you right now. You'll get to know in time."

"Oh, come on, Gilda, I need ideas for the letter!"

"No. Go, ask your dad. I'm sure he could tell you things."

"Dad is visiting mum. Help me Gilda, you're my only hope…"

She looked at him and his puppy-stare almost melted her heart. Almost. Had Daniel not been asking her to help him get another girl, she might have helped.

"Sorry. I have to study," with that she rose from her seat and headed down into her dorm, blinking back a tear. What would she have given if Dan had wanted to write her and not Liu Chang!

* * * * *

"Hi, Lily."

"Hullo, Norbert."

"Happy Valentine's Day."

"The same to you." 

"I have a present for you."

"Really?" she looked surprised. Up till now she had been sourly eyeing Chris Wood giving Yvette Weasley a little bottle of perfume with red ribbon – and Yvette had certainly flung herself on Christopher's neck. They had been snogging for minutes now, as though they had been glued together.

"I tell you that guy is a jerk," Norbert said, seeing who Lily was looking at. "You deserve someone better. If he cannot notice what a wonderful girl you are, then he doesn't deserve you."

"Do you think so?" she looked away from the couple.

"Yeah. Hey, don't make such a sad expression… here, your present," he handed her a dark blue velvet box. She didn't even see Chris Wood's appalled expression when seeing that she had got a jewellery box from Malfoy.

"Wow…" she breathed as she opened it and saw a necklace with four little orbs on it. "This is… beautiful. I cannot accept something as expensive…"

"Don't bother with its price, it's a friend's gift to a friend," Norbert smiled. "I heard from Dan that you had been born on 20th May, 1998, and I made a bit of Astronomy research. I got to know that Mercury, Mars, Venus and Saturn were in one line at time of your birth, almost all of them standing on the ecliptic. My gift symbolises the planets' situation at your birth – the necklace itself is the ecliptic and the four orbs are the planets. See, that little whitish one is Mercury, the red one is Mars, the yellow is Venus and the bigger one with the rings is Saturn. It will bring you luck if you wear it."

"Norbert… I don't know… I don't know how to thank you," she whispered as Norbert put it around her neck (Christopher Wood was now gaping like a fish). "You barely know me and you are giving me such a precious gift…"

"Well, it's Valentine's Day, so I guess I know a way to thank me," the boy grinned.

Lily cast a sideways glance at Chris and saw that the boy had stopped snogging with Yvette and happened to be looking in her and Norbert's direction. Without hesitation, Lily grabbed young Malfoy's head and kissed him firmly. After she released him, she cast a surreptitious glance at Wood, and felt satisfied with seeing the boy's stupid stare, while Yvette looked very furious.  

"Well, that was some kiss… even if you only gave it to me to make Wood jealous," smiled Norbert.

Lily pursed her lips, feeling embarrassed. It was one of Titania's advices to her to make Chris Wood jealous. "Sorry, Norbert. That was rude of me. You have given me a present and I used you to make another guy jealous. Forgive me, please."

"Apology accepted. What about making him even more jealous?" the boy grinned and pulled her to himself, giving her an even longer kiss.

* * * * *

"Hey, Dave, what's the matter?" asked Viviane, seeing a figure sitting on the floor on a deserted corridor, staring at the floor. A bouquet of withering (and seemingly intentionally crushed) flowers was lying next to him.

David Dursley lifted his head and the twins were appalled to see how sad his expression was.

"What happened?" Viviane knelt down next to him.

"Lily," the boy breathed.

"What's up with her?"

"I wanted to give her… a Valentine's Day bouquet, and I saw her… I saw her… snogging with Norbert Malfoy!"

"You don't mean it!" Viv gasped. "What would make a girl like Lily fall for a guy like that? I mean, come on, he's a Malfoy! And years younger than her!"

"Tell her, not me," Dave grunted.

"Dave? Uh… do you… do you like Lily… _that way_?" asked Val.

The boy shrugged. "It doesn't matter whether I like her or not, does it? She likes someone else… or someone elses… Malfoy and Wood. And perhaps I shouldn't… shouldn't even like her that way… you know… however distantly, we are related, and…"

"She'd still better like you than a filthy Slytherin!" snapped Viviane. "Honestly. Incest is not that bad – it remains in the family…" she added with a wink, "but a Potter being in a relationship with a Malfoy… that's unheard of! I'm rooting for you, Dave."

"Thanks," the boy gave them a small smile. "But I don't think I could stand a chance. If Lily decides against Malfoy, then she'll decide in favour of Christopher Wood. Well, c'est la vie. I guess I'd better start looking for someone else…By the way, Val, what does it feel like that today is named after you? Er, that you are named after today?"

The girl shrugged. "Strange a bit, but it was mum's idea to give me this name – you know she got to know about her pregnancy on this day twelve years ago."

"Aha. I have always wondered why you got this peculiar name," Dave smiled, grabbing the crumpled bouquet, standing up. He pointed his wand at the flowers that revived at once as though they had been showered by some kind of magical rain. "I'd give you the bouquet, but there's only one of it and there's two of you…" he began, then caught a glimpse of Circe Diggory, Lily's best friend, rounding the corner. "Do you mind…?"

"Not at all," the twins grinned and motioned him to step forward.

"Hi, Circe," the boy greeted the Gryffindor Chaser.

"Oh, hello, David. Happy Valentine's Day."

"The same to you. Er…" he didn't know how to finish the sentence, so he just pushed the bouquet into the girl's hands.

"Oh… for me?" her eyes widened and a huge smile spread on her face. David had to admit that she was quite pretty – it must have run in the family, given that Cedric had been very good-looking, too.

"I guess we'd better leave," Valentine whispered to her twin and they left the new 'couple' to themselves.

* * * * *

"I've been looking for you all day!" Neville caught up with Bert Bradley who was walking down the Charms corridor. "I wanted to talk to you for days… how are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks," Bert shrugged. "How's my sister? And my cute little niece?"

"Mary-Sue and Eve are fine," Neville said. "It's you I want to talk about now."

"There's nothing interesting to discuss about me, Nev," the caretaker replied.

"But I think there is. Look, I know that you have gone through some kind of a shock with Snape and everything, but…"

"Forget it, okay?" Bert snapped. "I want to forget it! I don't even want to think about it!"

"Hey…" Longbottom reached out to make Bert face him. "This is not like that. You said you loved him. What if he loves you back?"

"Hah, love me back? Don't be ridiculous!" Bradley spat. "How could he love me when he thinks that I'm… he's not gay, Nev! And even if he were, he does not love me. He's going to love Lily Evans to the end of his life! He has told me how much he loved her… He'll never love me. Ever since that night he's been avoiding me. Whenever we met on the corridor he looked away, without even greeting me… as if I weren't there at all!"

"Oh, you poor thing, you're really in love with that idiot," Longbottom shook his head. "If only we could make him aware of things…"

"But we cannot, Nev!" the caretaker said hastily. "I've agreed with Dumbledore that I'll keep it a secret as long as I'm here or he'll have to fire me… and you know that I have to stay here until Philippe is caught by the Police and brought back into prison. I'm not safe as long as he's at large!"

"I know," Neville sighed. "Damn him. You shouldn't have fallen for him."

"I was only eighteen then, Neville. A mere child. I had no idea that he'd become a criminal."

"I wish I could help you somehow…" the Professor said. "But I think maybe I can… I can cheer you up… with this!" he pulled a little package wrapped in lilac paper out of his robe pocket. "It's your birthday today, isn't it? Mary-Sue and I didn't forget about it."

A small smile appeared on Bert's face and he hugged his brother-in-law. "Thanks. I'm touched."

"I'm glad to see you smiling at last," Longbottom said as they parted, then his smile turned into a frown, seeing that Bert wasn't smiling anymore – on the contrary: Bert wore an expression of shock.

Neville turned to the left to see Professor Snape eyeing them with a dark glance.

"I have to go," the caretaker whispered and hurried away.

"Well, well, well, giving the caretaker Valentine's Day's presents?" the Potions master raised an eyebrow at Neville. "Perhaps I should tell your wife to keep an eye on you… apparently you have become interested in your own sex, Longbottom. Not that it surprises me a lot… you seemed to be like that as a student already."

The Flying Professor drew himself up and cast a belittling glance at his former teacher. "You know, Snape… if I didn't know you, I'd say you were jealous," with that he turned on his heels and left, leaving a dumbstruck Snape behind. 

* * * * *

Daniel was inconsolable. He had received Liu's reply to his letter and after having opened it with trembling hands, hoping for the best, he got a cold shower.

Now he was staring into the flames dancing in the fireplace in the Slytherin common room, feeling as miserable as never before.

"Hey, what's the matter, mate?" Norbert sank into the armchair facing his.

Dan handed his friend a crumpled sheet of parchment and looked away to hide his embarrassed blush.

The parchment said:

_Daniel,_

_Haven't I told you that I just couldn't imagine you and me going out? I think I have told you at least three times, but you still don't seem to be aware of it. What should I do to make you_ _understand it? We can be friends, but nothing more, I'm sorry. Don't fume and write me back that _'it was you who wanted to kiss me at the ball, not the other way around'_, because it won't change anything. I was only curious what it was like to kiss someone and you came in handy, that's all. I don't want you to keep deceiving yourself that we might once get together, because I'm not interested in you that way._

_I would perhaps have given you a chance if you had written me a 'normal love letter', but after what you wrote it became obvious to me that you were terribly immature and we could have nothing to do with each other. Reconcile yourself to it._

_sincerely,_

_Liu_

_P.S. enclosed you will find the letter you sent me – I didn't feel like keeping it._

"Hm… what did you write her in that letter?" asked Norbert.

"Well… just praised her. Her beauty and grace and… I don't know what her problem was with it, Norb! I spent my whole afternoon writing her a piece of poetry, even asked for Gilda's help but she refused, saying that she had to study, so I just had to make up something on my own and Liu apparently didn't like it…"

"Give it to me, perhaps I can point out your mistakes."

"All right," Dan shrugged and pulled an even more crumpled sheet of paper out of his robe pocket. It said:

_Ode to You_

_Liu, you're so sweet and pretty,_

_But you don't like me – that's pity._

_Why can't you like me, oh my queen?_

_You're the cutest girl I have seen…_

_I've been given some clever tips:_

_Not to praise your legs or lips,_

_(those could give you weird ideas,_

_so I avoid those areas)._

_What is left on you I can praise?_

_Everything, say your heart-shaped face…_

_You are thin and still well-endowed,_

_It can't be told in a mere ode,_

_You're my star and you're my comet,_

_You're the only one I covet,_

_You're my destiny, my sweet fate,_

_What about, let's say, a date?_

_from Dan Potter_

Norbert looked up from the letter and started to laugh. "Where on Earth did you hear not to praise a girl's legs and lips?"

"Well, Gilda said before she left… she said that if I wrote about Liu's legs she'd think that I wanted to… er, get between them…" Dan blushed. "And she also said that describing lips could give Liu the idea that I wanted her to… er, I don't know. She said that girls did other things with their lips than just kissing, but all I could think of was eating, and I couldn't include a rhyme about how cute Liu was when eating, right?"

"Oh, Daniel… you really have to learn a lot, my friend," young Malfoy grinned at him. "Haven't you read _Bitch Weekly_ by any chance?"

"Er, no. What is that?"

"Whew, that will be difficult. All right, then… you once said that your parents owned a copy of Kama Sutra."

"Yeah, but it was in their bedroom and I suppose it got destroyed in the fire," Daniel shrugged. 

"Pity, you could have learned a lot from there."

"No way! Once I opened it, but shut it immediately – you have no idea what kind of pictures were in there!"

"Of course I know what kind of pics are in there," Norbert replied. "You know what? We could sneak into the Restricted Section and look for something, I'm sure that we could find stuff like that, too, in there, not only books on dark arts."

"How could we go into the Restricted Section without getting noticed?" Daniel raised an eyebrow.

"With your Marauder's Map, and with this," his friend pulled something silvery out of his trunk.

"That's an invisibility cloak!" Dan gasped.

"Yeah, got it from father for Christmas. Good that I left it here at school, otherwise it would have been destroyed in the fire. I wanted to tell you about the cloak, but first I was so excited about spending the holidays at your parents' house that I forgot to mention it, later I didn't want to tell you because you were too sad about your mum's miscarriage…"

"This is brilliant!" young Potter said admiringly, ogling the watery-looking, silver material. "Dad told me about his escapades in his own cloak… you know what? We could actually sneak into Hogsmeade in this! Mum wouldn't notice us in Honeydukes!"

"Not a bad idea…" Norbert seemed contemplative. "But first the Restricted Section."

"Okay… but we'll have to watch out for screaming books, they're dangerous."

* * * * *

"Let's see…" whispered Norbert, holding a lamp to see the titles of the books in the Restricted Section. "'_The Mim Chronicles', 'Biography of Morgana'_ written by her son Mordred… '_Dark Druid Demons and Devil's Deals'_… uh, I can't find anything about sex, sorry."

Dan shrugged and kept perusing the titles of the books on the shelf running parallel to the one Norbert was looking at. "Why do I have the feeling that someone's watching us?" he breathed. "As though these books were … whispering to each other or something… creepy!"

Norbert lifted a thick volume off a shelf – it was called _'Dark Secrets of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade (you'd better not even read into it)'_. 

"What have you found?" asked Daniel, stifling a yawn. It must have been at least three in the morning.

"Dunno yet… I just liked the title and thought we could find something interesting in it…" young Malfoy opened the book (it didn't scream, to Dan's great relief) and placed it on a nearby table. "Hey, did you know that the second headmaster of Hogwarts had a perverse liking for iguanas?"

"Ew," Daniel grimaced. 

"What about this? The first witch who ever owned a pub in Hogsmeade spilled sleeping draught into the drinks she served to her male guests, then she put the bodies of the sleeping wizards into sacks and took them into the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice them to some evil demon… she killed forty-seven wizards this way. I think we should keep our eyes open next time we go to Madame Rosmerta's," Norbert said with a smirk. "Hah! Look at this!"

"What?" Dan yawned, feeling totally stupid about wasting their time here, instead of sleeping in their warm, fluffy beds.

"A wishing well!" his friend pointed at a picture on the 13th page of the book. 

"A what?"

"Honestly, Dan, don't you know what a wishing well is?" Norbert gave him a scolding stare. "It's a well that you look into and wish for something, and your wish comes true. The book says that there's a cave on the hillside next to Hogsmeade. From outside, the cave looks like a totally normal cave, and even if you enter it, you are not likely to notice that another cave opens from the first one, because it is separated from it – the entrance is made invisible by magic. See, there's a map showing where it is."

Young Potter leaned over the book. It showed a little path winding up the hillside from the end of Hogsmeade to a cave. *This must be the cave where Sirius hid when he was still wanted,* he thought. Sirius had told him and his siblings a lot about the years spent in Azkaban and the years of hiding before his innocence got proved. "Do you reckon we should check out that wishing well?"

"Definitely, mate!" Norbert nodded. "You could wish for Liu's love and you'll get it."

A huge smile spread on the other boy's face. "If you say so… I'm game."

"Okay, then… we'll go there on next Saturday."

"Why wait until then?" Dan knitted his eyebrows.

"If you have waited for Liu so long, why not wait for her for another four days?" Norbert grinned. "Anyway, we can only go there in broad daylight, because we might not find the cave at night… and if we don't want to wake suspicion by skipping classes, then we have to go on weekend. Next Saturday will be a Hogsmeade weekend, and so many students will be away from the school that no one will notice that we're missing."

"No one but Gilda," Dan replied. 

"We'll feed her some story, don't worry," young Malfoy waved and put the book back on the shelf. "We'll continue looking for a book on sex later, I'm sleepy now. C'mon, bed's awaiting."

* * * * *

As always, Harry visited his family in Hogsmeade over the weekend – so did he on the 25th of February as well. Lily, given that she was already in third-year, was allowed to spend Saturday and Sunday with her parents and siblings at Mrs. Figg's. The Potter house was almost totally renovated, so they would be able to move back the next weekend.

Daniel and Norbert told Gilda that they needed to look up something in the library for their History of Magic assignment – the one that Gilda had long finished. Using the Map, they crept into the tunnel and made their way to the cellar of Honeydukes in ten minutes. They threw the invisibility cloak over themselves, pushed open the trapdoor and walked upstairs. The shop was full of Hogwarts students – Ginny had her hands full, trying to serve them all at once, so no wonder that she didn't notice the door between the cellar and the shop open. 

The two boys were just about to exit the store when they bumped into something solid – Harry Potter.

"Who's there?" Harry, who had just entered the shop to help his wife on a busy weekend like this, asked.

Dan pressed his hands on his mouth and slid past his father, scurrying out of the shop with Norbert.

"Strange…" Harry scratched his head. 

"What's strange, dear?" Ginny called to him while handing a fifth year Ravenclaw boy a whole crate of ice mice.

"I would have sworn that someone in an invisibility cloak ran into me," he replied, picking up an apron and joining her behind the counter. "Or was I imagining it?"

Ginny shrugged. "Pass me that bowl of Bertie Bott's, will you?"

* * * * *

"Whew, that was close!" Norbert wiped his forehead as they hurried as far away from Honeydukes as possible. "What was your dad doing in the shop? Isn't your mum running it alone?"

"Well, yes, she is, but I suppose dad thought she needed a hand when hundreds of students flooded into the shop… hey, isn't that your brother over there… talking so intimately with that blonde chick?"

"Yeah, that's him…" Norbert whispered as they passed by Draco and Gabrielle. "I don't believe it!"

"What?"

"Draco must have either engaged her or married her."

"What gives you that idea?"

"She was wearing his ring. The old family ring."

"Was she?" Dan asked nonchalantly, not being too interested in Draco Malfoy's girlfriends, fiancées or wives. "Is the cave up there somewhere?" he nudged his friend as they reached the end of the village and walked past _Dervish & Bangs_ and the chapel.

"Yeah, we'll just have to find it," Norbert nodded and they started climbing the hillside.

After half an hour of sweating and panting they reached their destination. The cave itself wasn't too big, but it was definitely a good hiding place for someone the Magical Law Enforcement was after. There were several bones scattered on the floor – presumably the remainders of Buckbeak's meals. After having proved his innocence, Sirius had parted with the hippogriff that was happily living in Greece now.

The boys dropped the cloak, Norbert folded it, stuffed it into his bag and headed for the farthest end of the cave, where a hidden entrance to a second cave was supposed to be. He touched the cold rock, trying to feel every little cleft until he found something out-of-place. As though there had been a door that had melted into the rocks, making itself invisible.

"I think I've found it," he said and pushed a protruding stone as if it had been a mere handle – and to their surprise the rocky wall slid aside to reveal another cave.

"Wow," Dan whispered. This second cave was nothing like the first – it was darker, bigger and its walls were glittering as a very thin ray of light came through a fissure in the rock above. In the middle, just below the source of the light, was a round well built of big slabs of granite.  "Beautiful…" he stepped to the well and looked into it. It must have been very deep because he couldn't see its bottom. "So… am I supposed to lean over it and tell it my wish?"

"Yeah," Norbert nodded.

"Don't you want to make your wish first?" asked Dan, stepping back from the rim.

"I don't really have a wish," his friend shrugged.

"But you said back in September that you wished for a happy family… you know, when we saw ourselves in the Mirror of Erised. You could wish for that happy family now."

"Er… well, why not?" young Malfoy stepped to the well, looked into it and said: "_Make the Malfoys become a real, happy family,"_ a strange whispering and yet echoing sound came from the well, as though it was answering something that could have meant 'request accepted, fulfilment in process'. Norbert withdrew to make room for Dan. "Your turn."

Dan nodded and stepped to the well, leaning over it. "How should I formulate it?" he asked his friend, propping himself on the rim, glaring into the depths.

"Dunno, it's your wish."

Dan heaved a sigh, leant a bit more forward and said: "_I love Liu Chang. I want her to be around me as long as I live. Please, fulfil my wish_!" the well emitted some sound that could have been a mere echo of his wish, but Dan wanted to make sure he heard it well, so he leant even more over the rim, waiting for a clear reply that didn't come.

"Dan, watch out…!" Norbert shouted as a slab gave way under Dan's hand, followed by another. Dan tried to grasp another brick to sustain his weight, but the one that he managed to catch was slippery with moss.

"AAAAARRRGGGGHHH!" he screamed as gravity took possession of his body and pulled him downwards, into the depths of the well.

"Danieeeeel!" shouted Norbert desperately, jumping to the rim and looking down into the abyss. 

No reply came.

**A/N:** I have an Astronomy programme in which you can view the constellations and daily phenomenon by typing in the date. When I started to write this fic, I typed Lily's birth-date into the programme just for fun, and was surprised to see that it gave me this highly interesting constellation with four planets in one line, standing on the ecliptic. So I just thought I'd include it into the fic. That Astronomy programme rulez, I love it! :))

The Devil's Deal in the title of a Restricted Section book comes from the wonderful fanfic of webba. I hope she doesn't mind me borrowing her title.

The description of the second cave originates from one of my favourite books, The Count of Monte Cristo. Hopefully Alexander Dumas wouldn't mind me using his description… I just adore that book and I must have read the cave-part at least twenty times if not more! I can only recommend it to everyone, besides the HP books that's my favourite. 

_Prongs_: glad you liked my Draco ;) Yeah, poooooor Snapie!

_Nefertiri_: well, what happened between Snape and Bradley did happen because of the potion, but as Snape confessed… there's more to their relationship.

_Fairy Tale_: who knows? But I don't think you'll be dancing at the end…

_Kit Clouckicker:_ no, no slash warning needed at all. You have my word.

_rebkos:_ yes, pooor Sev! Yep, it seems so that Norb and Lily will have some kind of a fling…

_Alexander Phoenix_: nope, Harry isn't insane, just paranoid. 

_FireBolt9000_: I've read it.

_JustChrys:_ yep, that teaser was very evil, wasn't it? ;) About Draco: I always thought that he had a human side, but most HP fanfic authors keep showing him terribly evil. I cannot understand them. 

_Tap Dancing Widow_: don't worry, Ginny will survive this fic. Nope, Dan wouldn't do such a thing… would he?

_Red Ridding Hood_: I was contemplating whether to make Gabie become pregnant in this fic, but decided against it. Oh yeah, the Malfoys have never been normal ;)

_Houou_: excuse me? Sorry, I didn't understand your review. What does 'crash helmets everyone' mean? *Agi's ashamed*

_Altec: _Sirius spelled with a C? Since when? Well, I don't know about the English spelling, I used the Latin spelling, and in Latin it's spelled with an S, that's for sure. Why would Snape have a bottle of attraction potion next to a bottle of champagne? Well… he was drunk. Drunk people usually don't recognise what kind of bottles they put next to each other. I was rotfl when I read your assessment of elves, hilarious! Yes, I heard about the Russians being upset, and I've also seen a pic of Putin put next to Dobby. And well… one must admit that there was a little bit of resemblance. About Secrets: I started to read it because in the summary it said that Herm got pregnant with Ron's kid at Hogwarts, and it strongly reminded me of my own fic with Ginny getting pregnant. I was curious, that's why I started to read it. And I'm reading it for the same reason you do: not because I'm captivated (never been), but because I want to know what happens. Thanks for the correction. There are a total of 31 chapters in this story. 

_eclectus_: you wrote: "_ew, you killed Hedwig, ah…"_ - interesting assessment… LOL.

_figgiesblazin:_ glad you liked my description of Harry's anger and sadness. Hope you liked it in this chapter as well :) Sorry, can't tell yet who's causing all this. Wait till chapter 27.

_Inigma_: you wrote: "_well, aren't you evil_?" My answer: "_of course I am_". No, Harry doesn't care more for Hedwig than for his daughter, but remember: his daughter was intact and Hedwig was dead, so of course his grief took over his joy of seeing his daughter alive. 

_PheonixFire_: congrats and 100 points to your house. You're very clever :) Well, there wasn't much H/G fluff in here, but I think their scene was still cute – wasn't it? Nope, Voldie had no children. 

_sabby_: I cannot really promise you anything… but I think you won't be too disappointed in the outcome of things ;)

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: nooooooo, Voldie in a shower cap has nothing to do with this fic, it won't even come up again. You wrote: "_tell me, is everybody so far clueless_?" Who did you refer to by 'everybody'? The characters in the story, or my other readers? 

_Black Ice_: glad you liked the _Oh Sev, Oh, Bertie_ part ;)

_Katrina:_ I'm happy that you trust me with Snape and Bradley! Nope, none of the founders will reincarnate. 

_Autumn Dreams_: glad you thought it was funny what happened to Snape. My mum's fave part of the whole story was the Snape/Albus talk at the beginning of this chapter. I hope you found that funny, too. Yes, everything happens to pooooor Harry… sniff, sniff.

_Last Summer_: nope, Voldie had no children. The mere mental image of him having sex wtih a woman is… yuck.

_Lioness-07863_: glad you like them :) About Harry apparating into the blazing building: I think it'd be way too dangerous to do so. Even experienced wizards can apparate to wrong places, and in case he apprated just one foot to the right or left to the place he intended to apprate, he might have got burnt. He might have apparated out of the building, but apparating with another person might be dangerous – at least that's what I think. In my first fic Gilderoy apparated to the Sahara with Harry and made a wrong jump. They might as well have splinched themselves, given Gilderoy's knack for screwing up everything. Perhaps Harry learnt from this case and decided not to apparate with another person again. Or maybe he just wasn't thinking at that state of mind, he was so scared and confused.

_The Millenium One_: no… they aren't gay.

_Darkhorse_: no, the baby elf's name will be something different. No, no litter, just one baby :) Yes, my relations are doing fine, even my grandpa is okay now, thanks for asking.

_apple-pie_: yes, I know that I'm evil, LOL. I read about troth (the Scottish wedding) in a book and thought I could use it in my fic. Teehee… your fave line was the last one? I can imagine that ;)

_Any last requests_: glad you liked my Ron/Herm fic :) Hehe… yeah, the Snape/Bradley thing does need some explanation, doesn't it? Don't worry, it'll be explained.

_Romina_: glad that you aren't accusing me.

_No longer a Lone Wolf_: soon there'll be a lot about Dan's powers. And this chapter had some Norb/Lily ;)

_Indigo Ziona_: glad you liked Draco and Gabie :)

_Toby Haine_: there, you got some Lily/Norb ;) Yep, something will happen between Draco and Gabie… just not yet. Yes, Dan/Gilda is obvious. When will you see Cho again? Hm… in chapter 23, I think. No, the Potters aren't moving back to Black Manor, since their house got renovated.

_Stellarsiren_: suspense killing you? Oh, sorry… but there's more to come, the story will get more and more suspenseful as it goes on.

_Lady Schezar_: oh yes, I DID mean the last bit of the last chapter. But trust me, it won't be that terrible… actually it'll be quite funny ;) Yay for Snape-torturing!

_Katie Bell:_ if you draw a pic of Gabie and have a scanner, would you send it to me? 

_AmandaPanda_: I'm glad I could distract you from homework… just don't do that too often, or it'll show in your grades ;)

_seashell:_ you wrote: "_I don't read stories for the relationship between characters at all"._ Well, I admit I've done that on several occasions, usually if I read in a summary: "Harry/Ginny romance". But in most cases I was disappointed, so now I rather go for the plot, not for the ship.  Glad you like evilness, 'cause there'll be a lot of it!

_TaMaraR_: right there you are about Bert… he's not what he seems to be. The bad guy/girl is a surprise. I only watched the Little House series, not the Laura Ingalls Wilder movies. What happened in those? Did they tell us about the adult years of Laura? 

_Princess Ginny:_ yes, Malfoy and Gabie will definitely get closer :D

_Makayla P_.: glad you do :)

_ruffled owl:_ what? Someone could write a fanfic of my fanfic universe? Hm… that's very flattering. I think it's only Imogen I know whose fanfics have numerous outtakes and asides written by other people. Once someone told me she wanted to write a songfic based on TGSaWCS but I think she never wrote it. I think I wouldn't mind if someone wrote asides to my fics – with my permission, of course :) I was very happy when a friend of mine (if he reads this – and he does read all my answers – then he knows that I'm talking about him) wrote a funny play in which he parodied Harry Potter, Lion King and other stuff, and also included my Green Flame Torch :D 

_2Coolio_: sorry? I think you didn't finish your sentence, perhaps clicked submit a bit earlier than you wanted to?

_Whit2005:_ sorry… can't tell. But soon you'll have someone else to accuse, trust me ;) 

_Bucky_: nope, my Cho pic isn't on GT yet, but I sent it to Carissa yesterday, so it might be uploaded in a couple of days and then you'll be able to curse me for drawing her ;) You need sequels? Oh, sorry… but this fic will not have one. This is a trilogy, not a quattrology (or what is that called?) But you could still read the outtakes, one of which was uploaded a month ago… the next one comes at the beginning of April – at least I hope so.

_Inken_: Dinky was a free elf already – Harry, being Hermione's brother-in-law, couldn't have afforded to have a slave-elf if he wanted to keep her friendship ;) So, Harry has already given some clothes to Dinky, and after that she was a paid elf. This way he didn't give her clothes again when firing her. What? Women being inferior because of their period? I have never heard this before! Weird! I don't think it's a punishment of God. Well, of course it's not a pleasant thing, but it has its biological advantages: as long as women have it, they are protected from many serious illnesses that men aren't protected from (circulatory disorders, calcification, etc). It's not a blessing, but not a curse either, and those men who think it is, are totally out of their minds – and women laugh their heads off when such men get heart attacks at the age of 40, while women cannot, because their period protects them. *insert evil grin*

_Muggle_: oh, a slash-fan, are you? You were waiting for me to get those two in bed? LOL :)

_Wood's secret lover:_ yep, she'll be rehired ;) No, I haven't seen Chicago, so cannot translate the song, sorry.

_chrissi:_ is 'And there were none' an Agatha Christi novel? I haven't read that one. In fact I have only read one of her books (don't know its English title) and I've seen a film version of her 'Death on the Nile' (or something like that must have been the original title). 

_Waldomier_: I'm happy to see you again, I've been missing you :)

_Aimee:_ no, Draco had nothing to do with the fire :) Maia is really a pretty name.

_zzxm:_ glad you thought so :)

_starheart20_: yep, that sneak preview was a bit cliffie-like, but in fact it won't be a cliffhanger, it will be at the middle of a chapter. Have you seen my latest arts on GTnet? It's an Albus and a new Founder pic (I asked Carissa to take off the first Founder one because I wasn't satisfied with it).

_goldenstar555_: I'm happy that this is one of your fave fics! :D

_Lana Riddle_: yeah, that excerpt was evil, wasn't it? ;)

_Bamboo Anime_: then I'm sorry that I haven't seen that TV show :(

_Sky:_ glad you liked the Snape/Bert thing ;)

_SiriDragon:_ yes, heart wrenching, wasn't it? *evil grin*

_C-chan_: weird dream, really. No, Peter cannot be, he's stuck in that pyramid :) I can't tell you whether it's a canon character or an invention of mine… you'll find out later. Or what do you say to this answer: _both._ *hahahaha, that was evil and I didn't tell you anything just confused you! Bad Agi, very bad Agi!* Voldie's mum died when he was born (remember Tom Riddle telling this in the CoS book or in GoF? Not sure which one). Yes, Harry being heir of Gryffindor will be important for the plot. 

_kryptKnight_: really? 

_VegaKeep_: yup, 'hard to get' is coming for Draco and Gabie ;)

_Myr Halcyon_: you are one of those two reviewers who have managed to solve Bert's riddle. 100 point to your house, you're clever :) Glad you liked my handling of Christianity.

_tyleet:_ why doesn't Gabie let Draco touch her? Because she wants him to suffer just as she had suffered (see the end of the second Draco/Gabie scene in the previous chapter).

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: I agree, I don't like totally slashy stories, they are very irritating.

_Mage_: yes, it will be Gabrielle/Draco. Any objections? ;)

_Hermione We@s!ey_: you've got a funny name, I like it! And I'm glad you think it's gonna be a good fic :)

_Punky Poet:_ are you sure? Don't be sure ;)

_Rab_: *grins* glad you liked the twist and don't hold me for a slash writer!

_candycaneOgram_: Ginny won't die (she already died once, she won't die again in this fic, only when she turns 150 years old ;) About a Potter kid dying… can't tell. No, it wasn't Dan who caused the fire. And no, he isn't a trained-enough Imaginer to restore the house to its original state. Was it nice in Florida?

_jasper:_ well, perhaps the evil person has already appeared in one of my three fics *enigmatic smile*

_DJRowley_: Remus? Whew, what an idea! No, it isn't him. Yes, the Jean-Luc comes from Picard ;) Star Trek rulez! (though Star Wars rulez even more!:)

_Wizzabee_: I know that the Snape thingie was a bit sick, but it won't be that sick soon, I promise :) No, that's not what I meant about Tatyana, since Tatyana is dead. Wait it out, everything will be explained.

_heavnely182angel_: Harry won't be suicidal and Dan won't be that much of a hero. Well, he'll be heroic, but the one who saves the day will be someone else… it will be quite a surprise, I think :) I'm glad you have no objection against Bert/Snape ;)


	19. The chamber of

**A/N**: this chapter is dedicated to Cherie, who'll have her birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday!

**Chapter 19**

**The chamber of…**

It felt like eternity to Daniel – just falling and falling… lower and lower into the well… his hands tried to catch something on the well's inner walls to hold onto, but everything was smooth and slippery. Gravity kept pulling him downwards, pictures of his entire life flashed before his eyes, then a picture of a soft and large green cushion flashed into his mind, and with a bump he hit something – something that couldn't be the ground, or he would surely have died. No, the thing he was lying on felt soft under his fingers… after a minute or so he dared open his eyes, but couldn't see anything, it was so dark. No wonder, he must have fallen at least a hundred metres before touching down, so he must have been well beneath the cave, somewhere in the bowels of the earth. He dug his hand into his robes to pull out his wand – thanks heaven, it was still in one piece. "_Lumos_!" he said and looked around in the small circle of light produced by the spell. He ascertained that he was kneeling on some kind of a thick layer of moss. He had never seen moss so thick before.

Dan scratched his head, trying to remember the seconds before the impact, and suddenly he remembered that he had – instinctively – imagined a green cushion onto the bottom of the well. Perhaps he mis-imagined it a bit, given that he got a thick layer of moss instead to cushion his fall – but it was just as good as a huge pillow, wasn't it? He heaved a sigh – so, it was not a disadvantage being an Imaginer, eh?

He looked upwards to see a little greyish fleck very far above – that must have been the ceiling of the cave. "Norbert?" he called, hoping to see his friend's head appear in the small round hole, but it did not. "He must have gone to get help," he told himself. "At least I hope so, because I have no idea how to get out of here… I cannot imagine myself climbing these walls, I'm not that far into my training yet…" 

He was sure, though, that there was no point in just standing there and staring upwards, so he decided to look around in the hole he had fallen into. He held his wand out in front of himself, casting a beam of light on the walls, and was surprised to see that on one side there was no wall at all – there was a huge – very long - cave opening out of the pit. If the pit had been a normal well, then it would have been filled with water, but to Dan's relief it wasn't. The 'floor' of the cave sloped a bit towards its end. Everything down here was quite damp and cold, the ceiling was dripping, forming pretty stalactites and stalagmites. The water that was dripping from the ceiling gathered into small puddles on the ground. Daniel tried to step to less wet spots, but his trainers still got soaked soon, making a funny squelching noise whenever he took a step. 

As he got deeper and deeper into the cave, his eyes got used to the darkness and he started to enjoy the adventure, wishing that his socks weren't soaking wet. Somewhere, at least two hundred feet away, some feeble light could be seen, but the boy had no idea what could emit light down here. He got curious, of course, so he continued his way towards the source of the light.

After five more minutes of walk, he reached the end of the cave where, among some rocks, was a pool of water. It was not a small pool created by dripping stalactites – it was a much bigger one, which very possibly had been some kind of an underground part of the Hogwarts Lake. Daniel wished he had gillyweed - then he'd be able to submerge into this pool (however freezing it was) and swim up onto the surface.

Strangely the source of the mysterious light wasn't the pool itself - because the water was dark –, it was a door on the wall of the cave. The door seemed to have been made of some sparklingly white stone, maybe a magically boosted version of marble, Daniel didn't know.

He lifted his wand to have a closer look at the door, wondering who had placed a door into a cave like this, and why. His parents had told him about the Chamber of Secrets (his mother still started to shiver whenever it was mentioned), but he seriously doubted that this door was another entrance to that chamber. Salazar Slytherin wouldn't have built a possible escape route out of the chamber, now, would he? It wasn't possible, of course, given that the Chamber of Secrets was _under_ the lake, while this one must have been at the same level with the lake's surface (at least Daniel supposed so, he had heard that the water's surface in communicating vessels for liquid level was always at the same level).

Before Dan could examine the door more thoroughly, he heard a splashing noise from the pool. He immediately pointed his wand in the pool's direction to see what was happening and saw two ugly mermaids emerge from the water, holding a familiar figure and tossing it out into the cave. They were gabbling something in Mermish and sounded rather angry, even shook their greyish fists at the figure they had brought, then disappeared into the water.

"Myrtle?" Dan raised an eyebrow.

"Daniel?!?" the ghost-girl gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same. Why did those mermaids bring you in here? And _how_ _could_ they bring you in here? I mean… ghosts cannot be touched, can they?"

"In water they can," Myrtle shrugged. "Water gives us a little bit of solidity. Not much, or otherwise I wouldn't fit into the U-bend, but a little bit is more than nothing, isn't it? Do you want to try?" she put her hand into the pool, motioning the boy with her other one to come and touch her submerged hand.

Dan shrugged and reached into the icy cold water to feel Myrtle's hand. "Hm… it really feels a bit solid. Not much, but a little bit," he said, looking at the ghost.

Myrtle gave him a smile and blushed (she turned even more silver than usual), apparently enjoying the boy's touch. Daniel noticed this and jerked his hand out of the water. "Damn cold." 

"Couldn't you… couldn't you put a heating charm on the water…?" the ghost pleaded. "You could touch me more then…" her expression was not only pleading, but full of desire as well. "Please…"

"Don't expect me to jump into the water and get all wet, Myrtle!" he snapped, feeling the water with his hand again, shuddering at how cold it was. Myrtle, however, must have been very devastated and deprived, because the second he put his hand back into the water, she slipped into it with her full 'body', clutched his hand and yanked him downwards.

"Myrtle!" he gasped as the icy water tore at his skin like a thousand daggers – it must have felt alike for the victims of the Titanic catastrophe. Daniel fought to escape the ghosts' vice-like grip, but she wasn't willing to let go of him. "I'm freezing, you idiot!" he shouted before Myrtle pulled him totally under water and caught his lips in a kiss, that would have felt searing if he had been able to feel anything else but cold. Suddenly he felt a huge amount of energy leave his body just like half an hour earlier and the water around them heated to a pleasant 26 ºC. He hadn't even noticed that he wasn't struggling anymore to resurface, because he could do without breathing. His lungs weren't clamouring for oxygen, he felt totally all right – or more than all right - in the girl's embrace. He couldn't see much in the darkness, only her pearly white body that felt solid and warm… he just started to enjoying the kissing when he suddenly realised what he was doing and hastily tossed her backwards as if she had burnt him. She must have been taken by surprise and didn't react quick enough – he was already out of the pool, gasping and shivering in the coldness of the cave.

"Why have you stopped?" Myrtle sniffed, rising out of the water. "It could have been good for both of us."

Daniel gave her a furious stare, snatching up his fallen wand trying a drying spell on himself – to no avail. It was ridiculous, he thought, that he could freeze acromantulas, save himself from crushing himself to death after such a fall, heat a pool of water without using a wand, but couldn't dry himself when he wanted. "Damn you, Myrtle, I'm going to freeze to death because of your uncontrollable teenage hormones!"

"Hah! _My _hormones?" the ghost snapped. "You seemed to be quite willing yourself!"

"This is my ill-luck. I come here to wish for the attention of Liu and end up snogging a ghost!" he sighed and padded back to the marble door to examine it closer.

"Oh, that's quite an old door, it has been there ever since I got killed. I think it has been here for centuries. I haven't managed to float through it so far, don't know why," Myrtle said, hoping to continue the conversation with her new crush. "Sometimes, when my toilet got flushed down and I got down into the lake, the merpeople would just take me and throw me into this hole, hoping to get rid of me, but they weren't in luck. I kept returning to them to annoy them," she drew herself up, as though she had been proud of it. "Today it was the same – some mermaid was getting married to a merman and I wanted to watch the ceremony… but the merpeople somehow didn't like the idea of me playing bridesmaid, so they got rid of me."

"What is behind this door?" Dan mused, not a bit interested in the merpeople's mating habits.

"No idea. As I've said I never managed to float through that door. And no one has ever come down here," she replied. "But there's some script on it."

Dan, with chattering teeth, lifted his wand to see a small, round dent in the middle of the door, right under a script. The script said:

_Offspring of the great bear,_

_Sibling of the maiden,_

_Prove me you are my blood,_

_And enter you may, then._

"What does this mean?" he frowned, turning to the ghost-girl.

"How could I know?" she shrugged. "Come on, let's get back into the water and continue where we left off," she added with a wink.

"No way," he spat. "I should be going back, perhaps people have already arrived to save me…"

"DANIEEEEEL!!!!!" came a voice from the other end of the cave.

"Told you," young Potter grinned at the girl. "You've got to get yourself another partner for your little play," with that he turned his back on her and started running towards the source of the voice.

* * * * *

"Dad!" the boy yelled. "I'm here!"

"Daniel!" his father hurried towards him and they met in mid-way in the cave. "Daniel!" Harry closed him into a firm embrace, his body shaking.

First the boy thought that his own body was shaking because of the cold, but he had to realise that his father was shaking… and sobbing.

"Dad?" he looked up at Harry. "Why are you crying?"

"I thought… I thought I'd lose you, too!" Harry's voice quivered, just like his whole body. "Are you all right? Heavens, why are you so wet?"

"Er…" Dan began, not really feeling like telling his father about his mad snogging session with Myrtle.

Harry flicked his wand and dried him in an instant, then pulled him into another hug, tears still pouring down his cheeks. Daniel had never seen his father like this… well, perhaps the night their house had been burnt down and Hedwig had died.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, dad…" he said.

"Don't worry?" Harry shouted, suddenly stepping back and holding his son at arm's length, glowering at him. "You said don't worry?!? Hell, Daniel, you have no idea what I felt when Norbert turned up at Honeydukes, hyperventilating, and muttered something about you falling into a stupid well… I thought I'd die on the spot, and your poor mother, too! You have no idea what we felt! How could you be so irresponsible? How could you sneak out of Hogwarts? How could you…?"

"Dad…" Daniel looked down at his trainers. "Dad… I'm sorry…"

"SORRY????? And how sorry you'll be!" Harry shouted. "Detention! I don't know yet what, but… I'll consult your head of house, he'll surely manage to find you something suitable!"

"No! Not Snape, please!" Dan beseeched. "Anyone but Snape!"

"Dumbledore, then," Harry nodded. "You know that you might get expelled for this?"

"I know," the boy croaked, feeling that a possible love affair with Liu wasn't worth getting expelled. On the other hand – if he got expelled, then how would he ever get close to Liu? 

Harry led his son to the well's bottom where ground was still covered by the unusually thick layer of moss. 

"Strange kind of moss," Professor Potter said.

"Yeah, strange, dad. Because I imagined it there to cushion my fall."

Harry shook his head. "I still can't believe what you did, Daniel. I'm deeply disappointed in you. Imaginer or not, I'd totally understand Dumbledore if he expelled you, and you'd deserve it."

"Harry?" called Ginny's trembling voice from above. "Harry, where's Dan? Is he alive?"

"Yes, he's alive!" Harry yelled back. "Don't worry, dear, he's all right!"

"Oh, thank God!" she cried.

"Come on, start climbing!" Harry instructed his son, pointing at the ladder he had conjured into the well.

The boy nodded and started climbing with a heavy heart. He didn't dare imagine what would happen to him and Norbert when the headmaster got to know about their little escapade. He felt that they _did_ deserve to get sacked out of Hogwarts. His heart sank even more when he reached the top and caught a glimpse of his mother.

Ginny had been stressed and hysteric for a couple of times and Dan remembered pretty well what she had looked like when she had miscarried, but it had been nowhere near to what she looked like now: her face was red and tear-soaked, her eyes blood-shot, her hair tousled as if she had been tearing it in nervousness. As she saw him emerging from the well, she flung herself on him like a mother-tiger and held him in an embrace even tighter than Harry's had been. As if Daniel hadn't got wet enough that day, Ginny flooded him with her tears of relief.

"It's okay, mum…" he whispered, wishing she'd release him. "I'm fine, really."

"How… how did you survive? How did you survive falling so deep into that well?" she asked with a hoarse voice, the flow of her tears ceasing slowly.

"I imagined moss to fall on, mum," he replied. "I fell on soft stuff and didn't even hit myself."

"Oh, Daniel!" she started sobbing again.

"Gin, leave him. He needs to breathe," Harry gently peeled his wife's arms off their son. "Come, I'm taking you back to Mrs. Figg's. You'd better not go back to Honeydukes now."

She nodded and let him steer her out of the cave. Daniel followed them, feeling terribly guilty.

Outside, he found Norbert, whose face tucked into a huge grin when he spotted him. "You're all right, mate!?!"

"Yeah, suppose so," Dan shrugged. "But I won't be soon… we are very likely to get expelled for this, you know…"

"We won't be expelled," Norbert said, though he didn't look half as confident as his words sounded. "Dumbledore is known to give everyone a second chance…"

"I wish you were right," young Potter sighed, then leant to his friend to whisper into his ear: "You'd better hide the map and your cloak, we don't want Dumbledore or even my parents know about it."

"Okay," Norbert said and surreptitiously cast a vanishing charm on the contents of his rucksack – a charm that made the map and the cloak become invisible. Hopefully, Dumbledore wouldn't raid his sack…

* * * * *

"I'm deeply disappointed in you. Both of you," Albus Dumbledore said, giving a piercing look to the two boys standing in front of him. "I thought that at least you had more sense of responsibility than to leave the castle without permission, Mr. Malfoy. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought that you had learned enough from the tales your father told you about his own dangerous adventures… but apparently you haven't. I thought you'd be clever enough not to follow his example, but as I see you aren't. I should expel you both, you know… or at least deduct two hundred points from Slytherin… but if I punished you, then your classmates would get to know where you have been and they'd swarm to the well, hoping to have their wishes fulfilled. That is something I don't want to. That well is dangerous, we don't want anyone to break their necks there," Albus looked at the boys in a way that made them have a feeling of being X-rayed. "At least tell me – how did you get to know about that well?"

"About the well? Well…" Dan drawled, looking at his trainers. "It happened so…"

"…that I've read about it in a book," Norbert replied.

"What book?" Dumbledore knitted his eyebrows. "What kind of book? I don't think that any decent book would give you information about a well that has been sealed away from the outside world for centuries, presumably for good reason. Not even I knew about its existence."

"I found that book in father's library, in Malfoy manor," said Norbert hastily.

"Indeed?" the headmaster gave the boy a quizzical look. "Silly me, I supposed you might have got it from the Restricted Section."

"The Restricted Section?" Dan gasped. "No! Why would we go in there? It's… restricted!"

"I'm aware of that," Albus nodded. "I just wasn't sure whether you two were also aware that sneaking into that section entails a serious detention."

"Oh. Does it?" Norbert breathed.  

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, it does," Dumbledore squinted at them jovially, making Dan have a feeling that the old wizard _knew_ everything. One could never lie to Albus Dumbledore. "Well, of course I should not feel surprised to hear that good old Lucius has books on such things… I do not advise you to return there, boys. Forget that place forever. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Dan nodded.

"Certainly, sir," Norbert added.

"Good. Mr. Malfoy, please, wait outside the stone gargoyle, I have something to discuss with Mr. Potter."

Norbert left, leaving Daniel alone with the headmaster.

"Have a seat, Daniel," Albus said, "and tell me about your mysterious survival. How did you stay alive after such a fall? Does it have something to do with your powers?"

"Yes, Professor. I imagined a cushion to fall on a second before the impact. I guess I mis-imagined it a bit, because I got a thick layer of moss instead of a pillow, but it was just as good. Though I'm not sure I could have imagined it there if I hadn't been scared to death… Sir, when will I be able to use my powers whenever I want to? When will I be able to control them properly?"

"Well, Daniel, you'll need to learn a lot before you are capable of that," Dumbledore replied. "I believe you still cannot complain – you are proceeding rather fast. That diary only contains the basic things an Imaginer can learn, but there's more to being an Imaginer than just knowing the basics. I fear that soon we are going to run out of syllabus. In a couple of weeks, you'll be able to perform greater things intentionally, and after that… I don't know."

"Isn't there a book for Imaginers? Like _An Imaginer's Guide - How to Use Your Powers to a hundred percent_?" Dan asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, but I have no knowledge of a book like that," Albus shook his head. "That is why we've been using my ancestor's diary."

"Is it possible that I'll never be able to control myself totally?" young Potter worried. "Did Godwin Potter ever manage to control himself a hundred percent?"

"Well, not a hundred percent, I fear…" Dumbledore shook his head. 

"So this means that the diary will only give me a 70 or 80% knowledge? Will I never be fully trained?"

"Daniel… I promise you to train you as long as it is possible relying on the diary's contents, but if you reach a certain level, the diary might not be enough."

"I hope it _will _be enough, sir," the boy said. "I'd like to be totally in control of my powers, I don't want things to happen just because I'm angry or aroused…"

"Aroused?" Albus raised an eyebrow and Dan turned red to the roots of his hair. "All right, I'm not asking anything," the old wizard said with mischievously twinkling eyes. "You may go, Daniel. I'll be awaiting you Tuesday evening in the dungeons."

"I'll be there, sir," Dan smiled. "And thank you for not expelling us."

The boy left the headmaster's office, let the escalator take him down to the hidden door and exited to see his father and Norbert standing next to the stone gargoyle.

"I heard you were in luck," Harry said with his arms akimbo. "Dumbledore was gracious as always. I do hope that you won't get the idea of sneaking into Hogsmeade in the near future, young men," he told both his son and his son's best friend. "I've been wondering how you got there at all without anyone noticing you. Or was that…" suddenly understanding dawned on him. "It was you! In an invisibility cloak! You bumped into me at the door of Honeydukes!"

"What are you talking about, dad?" Daniel frowned, trying to look innocent.

"I know that look, son. You cannot deceive me," Harry said. "But you know what? I don't care how you did it, as long as you don't do it again. Promise me that you won't."

"I promise, dad," Dan said, crossing his fingers behind his neck.

"Good," the Charms Professor nodded. "By the way, Dan… is that a hickey on your neck?"

"What?" the boy blanched and clamped his hand over his neck to hide whatever was there. "No. I don't know… I've got to go, dad."

With knitted eyebrows Harry watched the two boys hurry off and wondered whether his son really had a love-bite or had he just imagined it?

* * * * *

"Harry!" Lily Potter ran up to her father. "Mum's just told us what happened! Is Dan all right? Has he got expelled?"

"He's all right and hasn't been expelled, don't worry."

"You know, it's all your fault!" the girl said with an angry expression.

"Mine?" Harry's eyes widened. 

"Yes, yours! You have spoilt Daniel ever since he was born! He, being your first-born son, has always been your favourite child, hasn't he? You have always made him feel that he was allowed to do anything and get away without a real punishment! No wonder that he thought he could just sneak out to Hogsmeade!"

"Now wait a minute, young lady!" Harry replied. "You said I have spoilt Daniel, but that's not true at all. I might have been a little bit lenient with him, but it was just to make up for…"

"It was just to console him because he was born a squib and wasn't really good at magic later on, right, Harry? But you know, that is no reason for favouring someone!"

"You are talking as though you were jealous of your brother," the young wizard said, barely believing what he just heard and saw. Lily had always been a good little girl who never rebelled against her parents and teachers, who never talked back… and now here she was, accusing him of having spoilt Daniel.

"I'm not jealous of him, I love my brother dearly!" she replied. "But I still think that you have spoilt him! It would have been your fault if he had died!"

"My fault? And what about Norbert-Devilsmoor Malfoy?" Harry grunted. "He admitted having come up with the idea of going to Hogsmeade. It was his fault, not Daniel's and definitely not mine!"

"Norbert wouldn't do such a thing!" Lily's eyes gleamed with fury. "I know that you have prejudice towards him because he's a Malfoy, but he's a nice boy, really!"

"Aha… that is why you have been snogging with him?" Harry crossed his arms. 

His daughter cringed. "How do you know?"

"Half the school saw you kissing, Lily, so it isn't surprising that it came to my ears. And I do not approve of it at all."

"Why not?"

"Because he's a Malfoy. Because he's years younger than you. Because…"

"Because you just cannot endure seeing me with a boy, right?" she shouted. "Because you think that I'm still a little girl! But I'm not! Just to inform you, I have at last started my period… I'm a woman! And I'm dating whomever I want!" with that she stormed away, leaving her gobsmacked father behind.

* * * * *

"I can't believe you two were this irresponsible!" Gilda fumed after her friends told her about their little Hogsmeade adventure. "You could have died, Daniel!"

"Would you be very sad if he did?" Norbert asked with an impish grin.

"Of course I would!" she said, blushing a bit. "I like Dan – as a friend."

"Aha," young Malfoy made an amused expression, but Daniel didn't seem to have noticed what he was referring to.

"By the way, Dan… how could you survive a fall like that?" the girl asked.

"Well…" young Potter knew that he had to lie. "I… don't remember. All I remember was that I was falling and falling and falling… then I woke up on a carpet of very thick moss… perhaps that was what saved me. It lessened the impact, I guess… Anyway, guys, there's something I've got to tell ya."

"What?"  

"Something happened to me down there."

"Yeah, you got a hickey," Norbert chuckled.

"What?" the girl gasped. "How?"

"Norb's just kidding. No hickey at all," Dan waved.

"No? Then why are you wearing that even in the warm common room, eh?" his friend asked, pointing at Dan's green-grey Slytherin scarf that was wound around his neck.

"Ehm… it was freezing in the pit and I… caught a cold," Dan produced some fake coughs.

"Have you been to Madame Pomfrey yet?" Gilda worried. "No? Then you should definitely go, she'll give you some Pepper-up potion and you'll be all right soon."

"I'm not that ill…" Dan replied. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you what I saw down in the cave… there was a door in there. A door of white marble that must have been magical somehow, because it emitted some light – glowed in the dark, you know… it looked so… ethereal, so mystical… and there was some script on it…" he started chewing his lips, his mind reeling to retrieve the words engraved into the door. "It was… offspring of the… great bear… sibling of the maiden, prove me you are my blood, and… enter you may, then."

"Hm… sounds cryptic," Norbert said. "Some kind of a riddle."

"Maybe I should ask my Aunt Hermione to help and solve it," Dan said. "Or rather not. We don't want the teachers to know about our little secret, do we? Perhaps we could solve the riddle together."

"Perhaps," Gilda shrugged. "What exactly did you say? Child of the bear and sibling of a maid?"

"Offspring of the great bear and sibling of the maiden," Dan corrected. "If only I knew what it meant!"

"Offspring of a bear…" Norbert mused. "That could be some American Indian stuff, I mean the Indians have totems like bears, ravens and eagles… but I have no idea about the maiden part."

"I don't think that it could have anything to do with American Indians," Dan shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. I mean… that door looked ancient. There's no way that the person who built it knew about America, it must have been built long before Christopher Columbus discovered that continent."

"What makes you think that the door is older than 500 years?" asked Gilda.

"Well… the letters looked terribly ancient. I barely could decipher them. They looked like the text in millennium-old codices…" Dan said. 

"What about the second half?" said Norbert. "It's about proving that you are of the blood of the writer and then you can open the door, right?"

"I suppose so," Dan shrugged. "But I think that we can only find out who the writer was if we solve the riddle of the first two lines… so we are stuck. What the hell could be the offspring of the great bear and the sibling of the maiden? Who is the great bear and who is the maiden? Bugger."

The three friends spent the next days trying to find out what the riddle meant, but they didn't manage. They had checked out books from the library – books on bears, hoping to find some legend about a possible offspring of a possible 'great bear', but they didn't find anything.

"I give up," Dan sighed on Tuesday. "There's no point in wasting our precious free time for stupid things. I have other things to do," that was true – he had Imaginer training with Dumbledore that evening.

On his way down to the dungeons (where he was supposed to meet the headmaster), Daniel met Kevin Weasley who gave him a mocking grin.

"I heard what happened to you. How on Earth did you survive?"

"Good that you aren't asking how did I _dare_ survive," Dan crossed his arms. "How do you know about it at all?"

"Ah, Lily told the twins and the twins told me," Kevin shrugged. "I know that you have reconciled with Viv and Val, but don't expect me to go all emotional on you like they did…"

"Just say it straight into my face, Kevin, that you are sad that I haven't died. I'd understand it a hundred percent, because the only thing that would have been good about dying is not seeing you again!"

"Oh, I'm sorry 'bout that, but you'll definitely see me again and again – for example at the wizard-knight tournament… if you dare enter, that is…"

"Of course I dare enter," Dan replied. 

"Wonder why… someone who cannot perform a simple cooling charm would suck at the tournament, don't you think?"

Dan shrugged. "Just wait out. You might get surprised."

"Surprised? By what? Seeing you fall off your broomstick after three seconds?" Kevin laughed. "That wouldn't surprise me at all, you know!"

"_You don't know me, Kevin_," Dan whispered, his eyes boring deeply into the other boy's. "You know nothing about me," his face didn't exactly show fury or the state of being offended, – no, it rather sent Kevin a silent message, a message saying 'do not cross me'.

"Maybe I don't know you. But I'm not even interested in you," said his cousin, infuriated by the fact that Dan couldn't be upset, then turned on his heels and hurried away.

"Idiot," Dan muttered and continued his way downstairs. On a corner, he almost bumped into two embracing figures, who – he realised – were his second-cousin David Dursley and Lily's best friend, Circe Diggory. *Good for you.* he thought wistfully, continuing his way towards the dungeons, picturing the pretty Liu. After a short fantasy about Miss Chang, he shook his head. He wouldn't carry on pining for her forever, because it was totally silly! He had almost died because of his enormous crush on that girl, and realised that she wasn't worth dying for. So, probably he didn't even love her that much… he didn't know. Perhaps he was too young to tell the difference between a crush and true love, too young to tell the difference between hormones and heart-felt emotions… speaking of emotions, Daniel had to jump behind the statue of an old wizard riding an ostrich to hide from Professor Snape who stormed out of a nearby classroom, seething with rage.

"Okay! I understand!" Bert Bradley called after him, sounding just as angry as Snape looked.

"What do you understand?" Severus turned around to face the caretaker.

"I understand why you don't want to teach me Potions anymore!" Bert yelled. "Because you feel ashamed about the Shrieking Shack!"

"I don't feel ashamed…" Snape tried to protest, but the caretaker interrupted:

"Oh, yes, you do! You feel ashamed because you had sex with me!" Daniel, behind the wizard-with-ostrich-statue gasped. "I know that it is why you have been avoiding me for two months now! But listen to me, Professor Snape – do not think that I don't feel ashamed about the events! You have no idea what I feel! I didn't want it to happen! It wasn't my fault! _You_ took the wrong flask, oh mighty Potions Master! You made us drink that potion – because we _did _drink some potion, didn't we? I for one would never have acted like that if I hadn't been affected by that stuff! _You_ made a mistake, and _you_ brought about everything! It's all your bloody fault, so don't give me that despising look, because it should be _you_ whom you should despise! Yes, you're to blame, only you! I'm not playing the scapegoat in this story, understood? I'm not…" Bert suddenly clutched at his head, as though he had felt dizzy, and the professor could barely catch him as he blacked out.

"Mr. Bradley! Mr. Bradley! Bert, wake up!" Snape patted the caretaker's cheeks, trying to revive him, to no avail. "Damn, don't do that to me, you hear me?" his voice sounded totally desperate. Daniel had never heard this man's voice tremble, neither had he seen him looking so worried. From behind the statue, he watched as Severus picked up the caretaker's fragile body and hurried upstairs, obviously into the hospital wing.

"Why are you looking as though you had seen the Bloody Baron?" Albus Dumbledore asked Daniel five minutes later. 

The boy blushed, "I have unintentionally witnessed a rather… peculiar conversation between Snape and Mr. Bradley."

"Have you, Daniel?"

"Yes… Mr. Bradley yelled at Snape…"

"_Professor _Snape," Albus corrected.

"Yes, him," Dan nodded. "So, he yelled at Professor Snape that Professor Snape shouldn't be blaming him for having uh…"

"Having uh what?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with interest.

"Well…" Dan leant closer, "Bradley said that they had… _sex._ And then Mr. Bradley fainted."

"Fainted, indeed?" Albus' face seemed contemplative. "How curious."

"You think it's curious that the caretaker fainted, but not that they have… slept together?" Dan was downright surprised. On the other hand – what was he expecting from someone like Albus Dumbledore? He knew no stranger person than the old headmaster – well, probably his brother Aberforth…

"I think that this is not the right time to discuss Professor Snape's sexual life, Daniel," the old wizard smiled. "And I must ask you not to mention this to your classmates. We do not want to embarrass our Potions master, do we?"

"Ehm… no," Dan grinned and Albus winked at him.

"Well, then, let us see today's task – imagining animals turning into other kinds of animals. I have brought you a nice flobberworm to practice on, I believe it wouldn't be that much of a loss to the world if you happened to mis-imagine it."

* * * * *

Snape was pacing in front of the infirmary while Madame Pomfrey examined Bert Bradley. He was beside himself with worry: could the caretaker have got a heart attack? Or did he have respiratory troubles? He felt terribly guilty – and this time not for having slept with Bert, but for having caused him to collapse. Had he not behaved like that, Bert wouldn't have got all riled up and wouldn't have lost consciousness. That poor little guy had always been so thin, he could have been sick all along… suddenly a thought struck Severus: what if Bradley's illness was a sexually transmittable one? His heart skipped a beat.

Meanwhile, in the hospital wing, the caretaker came round and blinked up at the Hogwarts matron who was looking down at him with a concerned and seemingly shocked face.

"Madame Pomfrey?" Bert whispered, looking around. "Why am I here?"

"Because you have fainted, Mr. Bradley," Poppy said. "Or should I say _Miss_ Bradley?"

* * * * *

On his way back to the Slytherin common room, Daniel met Professor Longbottom who greeted him jovially.

"Have you been training for the upcoming Slytherin-Ravenclaw match, young Potter?" he asked.

"Well, of course. Ted Avery is making the team train four times a week, even on weekends. He's a bit over-enthusiastic, I'd say," Dan replied.

"I can totally understand Mr. Avery," Neville said, "Slytherin need to pull up their socks if they want to beat Ravenclaw – Ravenclaw has an exceptionally talented team this year."

"Yeah, with Liu Chang…" Dan muttered. "By the way, Professor, are you also playing in the teacher-parent Quidditch match in May?"

"I'll be playing Seeker," Longbottom said. "First I wanted to play referee, but your father convinced me that it wouldn't be fair if he played against a non-professional Seeker. So, the referee will be Albus, so I heard."

"The headmaster? Wow!" Dan's face lit up. "I had no idea. I'd really like to see him riding a broomstick! So, the Seekers are you and dad. Who else is on team B, Professor?"   

"Well…" Neville scratched his jaw, "There will be Marcus Flint – not that I'm happy about having to play in one team with him… Gilderoy Lockhart has also volunteered, but between the two of us, I don't dare imagine what he'll be doing up in the air…" he added with a wink.

Dan chuckled, imagining Lockhart's sexy little hat being blown off his head by the wind while criss-crossing on the sky on a broomstick. "Who else?"

"Hm… let's see… I heard that Aberforth Dumbledore also wanted to play, and poor Minerva almost got a heart-attack when he announced that he'd be playing, you know _'you're too old for that, Aby, it's enough for you to ride that sled of yours, but forget about riding a broomstick!_'" Neville imitated the voice of an irritated McGonagall. " … oh yeah, and there's Snape, too."

"Snape?" Dan raised an eyebrow. "Can he ride a broomstick at all?"

"He can, I remember that in my first year he insisted on refereeing the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match. Though I haven't seen him making loop-the-loops and Wronsky Feints yet, so I have no idea what he is capable of…"

"I don't think it would be wise for Snape to play," Dan said. "He's been looking so pale lately… as if he were sick. As though he hadn't been able to recover since the spider-attack."

Neville gave the boy a surprised stare. "Why do I get the impression that you are _concerned_ about him? I thought you didn't like him." 

"I _don't_ like him. Still… I think he's not as nasty as he looks… he does have a heart. For example just two hours ago he looked damn worried when the caretaker fainted…"

"What?" Neville seemed shocked. "Mr. Bradley fainted?"

"Yeah… they were quarrelling, and Mr. Bradley just collapsed," Dan shrugged. "He must be in the infirmary."

"Thank you. I must hurry now," Professor Longbottom said and stormed away.

Daniel stared after him, having no idea why the Flying teacher had looked so scared when he got to know about the caretaker. Maybe he shouldn't have told Professor Longbottom about it at all… on the other hand, Dumbledore had only asked him to keep his mouth shut in front of his classmates, not in front of other teachers… he shrugged and continued his way down into the common room.

* * * * *

"Why can't you let me in?" Severus Snape growled at Madame Pomfrey. "I want to know how he's feeling. I have to see him!"

"Calm down, Professor!" Poppy said. "Mr. Bradley does not wish to see you. He requested in particular that I do not let you enter. I'm sorry, Professor, but I must respect my patient's wish."

"But is he okay? What's the problem with him? Is he very ill?"

"No, he isn't," Poppy shook her head. "Just a case of… er… _clupea_." 

"What?" Snape blinked.

"Er… a rare but not dangerous illness, don't worry, it won't last long. And now you'd better leave… oh, good evening, Professor Longbottom!" the nurse greeted Neville as he rounded the corner.

"I heard that the caretaker passed out," Neville said. "Can I see him, please?"

"I don't think that Mr. Bradley feels like having visitors right now," Madame Pomfrey replied.

"Then ask him whether he wants to see me, please! I'm sure he won't say no!" the Flying teacher pleaded.

"All right," the matron shrugged and disappeared into the infirmary.

"Don't think that he'll let you see him," Snape told Neville with a dark expression. "He doesn't want to see anyone."

The door of the hospital wing opened and Poppy waved at Neville. "You can come, Professor Longbottom, my patient is willing to talk to you."

"See, he is willing to talk to _me,_" Neville sent Snape a nasty smirk and entered, leaving a fuming Potions Master behind. 

Poppy closed the door and hurried off to her adjoining room, leaving the patient and the visitor to themselves.

"Hi," Neville smiled at the caretaker and took place on a chair next to the bed.

"Hello, Nev," came a feeble reply.

"What happened to you?" Longbottom asked with a worried expression. "How are you? Is your illness very dangerous?"

"How could it? Then Madame Pomfrey wouldn't have let you in. Anyway, I'm fine."

"I heard that you had some kind of an argument with Snape and suddenly collapsed."

"That's true," Bert nodded with a small smile. "We had an argument… I told him what I thought of him."

"Did you?" grinned Neville. "And what did you tell him?"

"I told him that it was all his fault – he was the one who mistook the flasks for each other, not me, so he has no right to blame me."

"Clever," Neville patted Bert's hand. "But tell me, why did you faint? I'm worried about you."

"I'm pregnant, Neville." 

"WHAT???" the young wizard gasped. "You… you don't mean it! You must be joking! Beryl, come on, tell me that you're joking!"

"I can't Nev. That's the truth," she shrugged.

"I can't believe it… you're having… Snape's kid?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, you silly goose, why didn't you come to Pomfrey and ask for some contraceptive after that… that night in the Shrieking Shack? Why, for heaven's sake?"

"Well… first of all: it didn't occur to me that I could have got pregnant," Bert/Beryl said. "You know that my ex-husband and I had been trying to conceive for years, but didn't succeed. I thought that I couldn't have children. But now… now I must believe that it was Philippe who couldn't get me pregnant. Number two: I didn't want to come to the school matron and reveal her that I was a female. You know that Dumbledore told me to hide my sex as long as possible. You know that Hogwarts can only accept male caretakers… and you know that Hogwarts is possibly the only place where I'm safe from Philippe."

"Of course I know," Neville sighed. "It was me, after all, who asked Albus to employ you and keep you safe from your criminal ex-hubby. I know that the only condition on which he employed you was to make you appear as a male, but… you could have trusted Pomfrey. She's not a gossip, she would have kept your secret. Perhaps she can still help you get rid of this pregnancy."

"Neville!" Beryl sat bolt upright, her eyes gleaming with fury. "I – don't – want – to – hear – about – terminating - my - pregnancy! Look, Severus might not be the ideal father for a child, and he doesn't even need to know about it, but there's no way that I'll let anyone kill my baby!"

"Okay, okay, sorry for even mentioning it!" Professor Longbottom soothed her. "But… how will you keep it a secret from the staff and the students? I mean that's okay that you cut your hair and put on male clothes, because people did believe you to be a man, but… how can you hide a baby? After a while it shows, you know…"

"Neville," Beryl reached out to squeeze his hand. "Let us hope that Philippe will be caught by the Police soon and taken back to prison. As soon as it happens, I'll leave Hogwarts and continue my life in the normal Muggle world."

"But… even if your ex is taken back to jail, how will you be able to carry on with your life? I mean… you're teaching at a Muggle school. But if you have a child, you cannot teach, especially when you are raising it alone. How on Earth will you manage it?"

Beryl heaved a sigh. "I don't know, Nev. And I don't even want to think of it right now. It all belongs to the future. Let's carry on with our lives as though nothing happened, okay? Poppy gave me some medicine that will prevent me from collapsing again and will also reduce the possibility of morning sicknesses. No one needs to know what is happening to me, no one else but you and me."

"And Dumbledore," the young wizard added. "Because you _have to_ tell Dumbledore."

"I don't think I have to. But you can tell my sister. She'll surely be thrilled."

"Okay, I'll tell Mary-Sue," Neville nodded. "When can you leave the infirmary?"

"Tomorrow, I suppose."

"And what about your work as a caretaker? I mean… caretakers are supposed to work hard, and pregnant women shouldn't."

"Don't worry about me, Nev," his sister-in-law smiled. "You know that I'm a tough lady, I'll manage it. And now, go. We don't want Severus to get suspicious about us being together so long, do we?"

"Nay," Neville grinned. "You know what? I think he's jealous of me. He thinks that you and me are… sort of… together. He thinks I'm also gay."

Beryl slumped back into the pillows, giggling, her voice sounding like the jingle of a dozen little bells… Neville wondered how no one – especially Snape – realised that Bert Bradley was a woman. "You know, Nev, I feel sorry for poor Sev," she said, still chuckling. "It must feel terrible to think that you're gay. I wish I could tell him that he's not. I wish I could tell him what I feel for him… oh, keep dreaming, Beryl Bradley, keep dreaming!"

Professor Longbottom gave her a sad smile. "One day it might turn out to be more than a mere dream – it might turn reality. And if Snape's the man of your dreams, then all I can do is wish that that day comes soon."

"Thanks, Neville. You're a true friend."    

* * * * *

While writing his homework in the Slytherin common room, Daniel's thoughts kept wandering away from goblin revolutions and Transfiguration essays… he wished he hadn't been made by Dumbledore to swear that he wouldn't talk about Snape and Bradley's quarrel… he was sure that Norbert would think it was very funny. Maybe even Gilda would laugh.

With a sigh, Dan put down his essay on Dick the Dirty and reached for his Astronomy homework.

"Have you guys done this yet?" he asked from his friends.

"Of course, ages ago," Gilda replied, not even looking up from her book on Egyptian battle-techniques.

"I haven't yet," said Norbert, rolling out his star chart on the table. "So, what exactly is the task? To depict the movement of the planets in May, or what?"

"Yeah," Dan said, his gaze falling on the star chart. Suddenly he tensed, as though he had been petrified. His body was rigid, but his eyes were skimming the chart, the expression of excitement and realisation spreading on his face.

"What happened?" Norbert waved his hands in front of his friend's eyes. "Anybody home?"

"Yeah…" Dan looked up. "I think I got it!"

"What?"

"The riddle! I think I understand the riddle!"  

Gilda slammed her book shut, her face revealing the same amount of excitement that Dan was feeling. "How could you understand it?"

"Look!" young Potter pointed at the chart. "There is Ursa Maior, or The Great Bear. See what constellation is under it?"

"Leo. And?" Norbert frowned, having no idea what his friend was getting at.

"Look, what constellation do you see next to Virgo?"

"Leo," said Gilda.

"Yeah. Don't you two still understand?" Dan asked, amazed how his friends could be this dim. "Offspring of the great bear, sibling of the maiden!" he recited the verse. "It's like a family-tree on the sky: Ursa Maior is above Leo, as though Leo had been its offspring. Virgo is next to Leo, as though it had been its sibling! In family trees the parents are up and the children are under them, next to each other!"

"You mean… that Virgo was referred to as the maiden?" Gilda knitted her eyebrows.

"Yeah. At the old times, when the verse was written, maidens, who hadn't got married yet, were supposed to be virgins, right? And virgin in Latin is Virgo! All fits!" Dan replied, his face flushed with excitement. Being good at Astronomy had its benefit, after all… 

"So… the first two lines referred to the constellation Leo?" Norbert asked. 

"It had to," young Potter nodded. "I just don't know about the next two lines… I mean there's something that you have to prove that you're of the blood of… the lion? It doesn't make sense to me."       

"Oh, don't be so dense, Dan!" Miss Lockhart waved. 

"I'm not dense!" the boy protested. "Had I been dense, I wouldn't have been able to solve the first two lines!"

"You're still dense if you can't find out who 'the lion' is!" she retorted. "Think, Dan! Where was the chamber built? In a cave near the Hogwarts lake. And who had anything to do with lions at Hogwarts?"

Daniel's eyes widened with recognition. "Gryffindor. Godric Gryffindor."

**A/N:** I don't know what the English name of the Great Bear is, perhaps you write it as Ursa Major instead of Ursa Maior, but since I had no idea, I just used the Latin names for the constellations.

You might wonder how a ghost could be a bit solid in water. The idea came from the Chamber of Secrets book/movie: when Myrtle jumps into a toilet, she sprinkles water out of it – that means she has to have some kind of solidity in order to make the water sprinkle, don't you think? So I assumed that in water ghosts had a little bit of solidity. I might be wrong, of course, we should perhaps ask Rowling ;)

Originally the Daniel/Myrtle scene was a bit racier, but on my mother's advice I re-wrote it, so this is a less-racy version. Now don't even ask for the original one, because I didn't keep it. The only existing copy of it is in the possession of a Hungarian friend whom I've sent the whole story months ago, but I don't feel like asking her to return it to me. She said she found the Myrtle/Dan scene very funny, though a bit morbid. You aren't getting the morbid version, because I don't want to corrupt any of my under-thirteen-year-old readers ;) Anyway, don't worry, Dan never really had sex with Myrtle, not even in the original version, he's way too young for that and I wouldn't spoil my dear little Daniel that way, would I? *innocent look*

_King Jasbon_: there was nothing wrong with Dan's wish and it might come true… just perhaps not the way he wanted.

_Imagine-Gurl210_: yes, Cho and Liu are getting on my nerves as well! Welcome in the Cho-Hater-Club (other members: Bucky and me)

_rebkos_: yeah, wishes can backfire like curses cast by idiots like Gilderoy ;)

_Indigo Ziona_: well, now you know who Philippe is. I liked Dan's poem, too, but soon he'll write an even nicer one (hehe, I had so much fun writing those poems!) Wow, do I really have an eloquent way of writing grief? Thanks, that comment made my day! About 'Liu forever' – well… it will be a surprise, but trust me, it won't be that bad.

_Tap Dancing Widow_: oh, you actually felt sorry for Gildy? ;)

_Cassandra Antheymst_: yep, he's a girl, glad you managed to find out! Nope, Philippe didn't turn Bert into anything, because he's no wizard, he's a Muggle. Yes, you're 100% correct about Dan's wish :) 

_Altec_: yes, I'm really a master (mistress) of cliffhangers, and the recent cliffies weren't even bad compared to the ones coming up *evil cackle* Well, you got a bit of Kevin again. I don't hate Dobby at all – I found him very irritating in the CoS book, but I got to like him in GoF. However, I can't stand Winky. Death to Winky! Yup, Voldie DID kill people. For example Harry's parents, Bertha Jorkins, the Muggle gardener Frank Bryce… 

_sabby_: yes, Dan will soon notice Gilda :D Glad you like the Lily/Norbert thing.

_C-chan_: I agree, I also missed the Valentine's Day from the movie. Oh, keeping Gildy in character is the easiest thing in the world – he's the character that I love writing the most, because he's the funniest :D Yeah, the Bill Gates quote was really funny :)

_Katrina_: glad to hear that you're addicted :D Yes, Bradley is pregnant, the poor thing – it must be hard for her to carry Sev's kid ;) Dan's wish was deliberately phrased in that stupid way, so that Liu wouldn't fall in love with Dan. If she did, when what would be of poor Gilda? Red herring? Big LOL! You know why I find that funny that you should mention red herring? Because my Public Relations professor told us the real story of the red herrings and analysed why the PR work was done wrongly in that case and what the PR managers should have done to solve it. It was very interesting. Bert has nothing to do with Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans :) Sirius? You're the second person who insinuates poor Siri. The mere reason for the Potters not going back to Black Manor was that Ginny was working at Honeydukes and it was more comfortable for her to stay in Hogsmeade. No, Dan did nothing to the house. Lily Malfoy? Does it sound really good? Hm… never thought of this before ;)

_Houou_: no, that book won't play a key role. But another book might… just wait it out. "_Young love… Snape's gotta be 40-something!"_ – LOL :D Well, in fact he's around 50-52 in this fic.

_Mage_: what's with Liu being such a bitch? Well, that's easy to answer: she's Cho's daughter ;)

_Alexander Phoenix: _glad you liked the Shrieking Shag ;) I'll try and review you again soon, but I've been asked by several people to review them, so I won't be that quick now.

_ruffled owl_: you wrote: "_gay Snape. Something else I thought I would never see."_ Well, you haven't seen it, have you? ;) He's not gay, after all.

_Lioness-07863_: I usually update once a week. Last week I was in good mood and updated twice. Yep, Dan will end up with Gilda. 

_AmandaPanda_: noooo, Albus isn't bisexual, the goat was a female… really. Just wait till the beginning of April, and you'll be able to read a short story about Albus and goat (it won't be anything perverse, just funny, I promise). Yes, you're right about Dan's wish.

_Romina:_ of course he lives :D Yes, most people would usually die if they fall down a well, but not an Imaginer.

_Black Ice:_ the name of Neville's wife was a pun intended, but has nothing to do with the plot. Sorry about Snape NOT being gay. I hope you're not too disappointed… About Snape liking Lily Evans: I think that some fanfic writer made that up and others used it in their fics, but no, Rowling has never said that. She might in book five, though. We'll see.

_Lupin's Angel_: ummm… what does the abbreviation OMFG stand for? I know OMG, but what is F in there? Yay, I loved your long list of Harry-torturing! :D And you have no idea what the 'crowning glory' of the torturing-list will be… it'll be something terrible *insert evil laughter* I hope you won't send your orcs after me, I hate the orcs, they are soooo ugly! WHAAAAAT??? Voldie disguised as Angel? Holy heavens! You deserve 50 points for your extremely vivid imagination (I don't think that even _my _imagination has ever been this vivid). I can't tell you what the last word of this fic is, because it might spoil a good joke. But it isn't scar.

_bucky:_ those poor hungry spiders… *Agi wipes off tears of her face* Well, you got the pregnancy you wanted ;) Yes, the story will have a happy ending and its final sentence will be very funny – perhaps even funnier than the ending lines of the first two fics. Btw, now you can view the 'hated b*tch' in my GTnet portrait gallery, I'm curious about your opinion ;)

_VegaKeep_: you wrote: "_Snape gay? Say it isn't so."_ Well, I'm saying: "it isn't so" :D

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: well, some readers aren't that clueless, but none of them really KNOWS the truth about certain things. I'm really good at misleading the readers, LOL. Nope, Trelawney is totally innocent.

_Lee:_ I did.

_Wizzabee_: no, Dan's wish won't magically connect them so that they couldn't be apart from each other. The wish will come true in some way, but not that way. 

_Inigma:_ I'm glad that my story could make you feel better :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: hey there, I've been missing you! Aha. So the temporal paradox has something to do with time travel. Well, there won't be time travel in any of my fics, that's for sure. Yes, I'm sure that Sirius wouldn't have turned them down if they wanted to move back to him, but Ginny had Honeydukes to work at, and it would be a bit difficult for her to live at Black Manor and work at Hogsmeade. Whew, what a theory you made up about Dan's wish! You also have a vivid imagination! :D I know that Dan's wish wasn't phrased well, I deliberately phrased it this way (Dan's just a young kid, after all, and didn't realise that he phrased it wrong.) I didn't want him to ask the well 'make Liu fall in love with me', because then it would come true, and what would be of poor Gilda? "_This wishing well has been closed due to the fact that it swallows people, RUN LIKE HELL!"_ – LOL, I was rotfl when I read this!

_Bamboo Anime_: oh, I hope you won't hate poor Dan just because he reminds you of someone you hate.

_Lady Schezar:_ glad you are happy about Lily and Norbert ;) Dan and Gilda will make it soon, too :D

_goldenstar555:_ yep, Dan didn't phrase his wish correctly.

_Punky Poet_: clever. Very clever! :)

_figgiesblazin_: yep, Dan is a bit Slytherinish :) I'm glad you like Norbert so much, I like him, too :D

_The Millennium One_: sarcasm in my reply? Hm… I don't remember what I wrote you, so no idea. Well, now you KNOW why they aren't gay ;)

_seashell:_ I agree, my fave part of PoA is the same as yours: the Marauder's Map insulting Snape, it's so cool and funny :D Yeah, Liu is bitchy, but what can you expect from a Chang? ;)

_Colibi:_ why does Dan bother with Liu? For the same reason Harry used to bother with Cho.

_Wood's secret lover_: glad you liked the Shrieking Shag - I giggled quite uncontrollably when I made that up ;) Ginny might have another baby… about the enemy being in canon or just my stories… I can reply you the same I told C-chan last time: both. *hehe, that must have confused you a lot*

_tyleet_: not every chapter can be action-packed, there has to be time for plot-developments. Excitement will be in chapter 24, and 27-29. There'll be a lot of it, don't worry.

_Hermione We@s!ey:_ glad you like Norbert, I like him too :D And thanks for the praise, there's really no bigger praise than that. Are you still shocked about Bert and Snape?

_Aimee_: yes, Dan's wish was formulated wrong. I deliberately phrased it wrong, of course, so that Liu wouldn't fall for him. On the other hand, the wishing well might be just a 'hoax', to hide the chamber under it, perhaps it doesn't even fulfil wishes just people believed it to be able to fulfil wishes. However, I won't really go into this, since the important thing is the chamber, not the well. Well, now you know that Bradley isn't gay. Neither is Snape a bisexual.

_Princess Ginny_: I get the hilarious emails from British and American friends (most of whom I have got to know here on ffnet). 

_SiriDragon_: glad you think Dan and Gilda would make a cute couple, I also think so :D There'll be a very cute scene with them in the next chapter.

_Lana Riddle_: thanks :D

_PhoenixFire:_ Dan's wish worked, but not the way he wanted. In the final chapter you'll see how it did.

_HP Blonde Crazy Chick_: glad you liked my drawings on GT :) But I'm not going to draw another Petunia, one was just enough! You're paranoid because of racoons in U-bends? LOL :D

_Inken:_ glad you liked the poem. Yes, I deliberately phrased Dan's wish in the wrong way. I know that Snape was ooc, but just imagine him in such a situation: even if Rowling wrote him in a situation like this, I don't think she would have written him in another way. I thought he behaved in a way that was expectable from him in a crazy predicament like this. I think that someone like Snape wouldn't bear the thought of having Bert around after what had happened between the two of them :D

_Shazzman_: no, that astronomy program cannot be downloaded, at least I got it on a CD years ago, and it was a CD that my mum bought in a shop, so it was 'legal' and everything. But there was a website mentioned on the CD: Go there, perhaps you'll find something.

_No Longer a Lone Wolf_: I never thought that Lily/Norb resembled Harry/Ginny at all. Strange that you think so…

_Makayla P_.: what? You and your cousin Amanda read this out to each other and she fell off the bed laughing? You know that this was one of the funniest reviews I have ever got? :D Your cousin isn't AmandaPanda, is she? (I have a reviewer by that name). Anyway, if she is another person, say hello to her for me and tell her that I'm happy I could make her laugh so much! Well, now you understand why Snape isn't gay.

_DJRowley:_ would it make any use if I denied it was Cho? Well, I'm not going to deny it, but I'm not going to say that it's her, either. Just be patient, you'll get to know in time.

_Myr Halcyon:_ you're the second reader who accuses poor Angel. Now come on, she's just a cute lil animal! I'm glad I managed to write Bert/Beryl in a femmy way, that means I've done a good job with her! :D How did you like Crime and Punishment? I had to read it during the high school, in third grade, and at first I thought I'd be reading something terrible, but as I continued reading I was surprised that I liked the book! It was very interesting to see how Raskolnikov was suffering from the thought of what he had done. My friend and I have been joking about Raskolnikov's bloody socks ever since ;) I had to read quite many works of Russian writers (Anegin by Puskin, Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, The cloak by Gogol and Crime and Punishment). I hated Anegin, Ivan Ilyich and The cloak (that's why I made a ridicule of Anegin and Ivan Ilyich in TGSaWCS), but I really liked Crime and punishment, a very well written novel, I could barely put it down, I found it so captivating.

_starheart20_: yup, I just love annoying my poor readers with cliffies ;)

_Mistri_: please read my answer to Shazzman.

_Jennifer W_: glad you liked it so much, it always thrills me to get to know that I can make people laugh :D

_LilGinny_: yep, Norbert's really hot ;)

_2Coolio_: any comments now?

_apple-pie_: don't worry about Dan and Liu, there won't be anything between them. But Dan and Gilda… just wait for the next chappie, you'll be happy ;) About the necklace… can't tell you yet. Glad you liked the Albus/Sev conversation, I was having so much fun when writing it! You wrote: "_Severus could be a nice but grumbling husband_!" LOL:) "_I don't hate him anymore."_ Why, did you use to hate him? I never hated him, I like him. Bert/Beryl is about 32-33 years old.

_Nefertiri:_ nothing happened to Harry's cloak, it was left in the school for the Christmas holidays, so it didn't get burned in the fire.

_jasper_: yes, Mr. Bradley is a Miss Bradley ;)

_Kamatazi Yumi_: you wrote: "_You take another persons world and make it your own_." What can I say for this? THANKS. :D

_Danimpa_: I'm glad you've decided to send a review at last :D No, I'm not going to write a sequel to this one, but I'll be doing outtakes. There's already one about Ron and Hermione, and there'll be soon another one about Albus and the goat *grins stupidly* don't worry, it won't be a perverted story, it will be nice and funny, and PG-13 rated, so everyone will be 'allowed to' read it ;) Yep, you were right, Bert is a Beryl.

_zzxm_: of course Snape was a bit ooc, but imagine what anyone would do in such a situation: I think everyone would behave strangely (I surely would if I were in Snape's place;). 

_Toby Haine_: you wrote: "_So Snape slept with a guy."_ Eeeep! No, he didn't! _"I know its still about six or seven seperate subplots but I can tell its starting to become one big story at last which is just what we all want."_ Yes, hopefully I won't disappoint :)

_heavenly182angel_: no, there wasn't water in the well – luckily :)

_luza:_ thanks. It's always nice to see a new reviewer! :D

_SparkleCharm:_ I didn't make Snape a homo :) Harry is 31 years old. Sirius must be around 50. Yes, Draco and Gabie will get together.

_candycaneOgram:_ why the title Love hurts? Because both Snape and Beryl were suffering from love, and also poor David, and a little bit Lily, too. And of course Daniel who got rejected by Liu. They were all hurt by love :) No, Julie won't have an important role, she's just there because I had to put someone in Hufflepuff as well. Yup, Dan will be a bit mad at Norbert when he finds out about his relationship to Lily. 

_Katie Bell_: is there a problem with Katie being Chris' mum? ;)


	20. The most charming smile

**A/N: **the set date for uploading this chapter was Friday, but I thought I'd be nice and update sooner, I hope you appreciate it :) Warning: this might be the craziest chapter so far and Severus will be ooc (but I had so much fun writing him in this chappie!), so don't tell me I didn't warn you ;)

**Note to Mistri and Shazzman**: in the last chapter I tried to give you a link to a site that was mentioned on my star-chart-CD, but ffnet wasn't willing to show it. So I repeat it here, leaving a space among the letters, hopefully ffnet won't delete it this way:

w w w. s k y m a p. c o m – I don't know whether you'll find anything useful here, I just thought you should check it out.

**Chapter 20**

**The most charming smile **

Daniel stared at the star chart lying on the table, still unable to believe what he and his friends had just realised. "Could it be? Could it be Gryffindor's chamber?"

"Why not?" Norbert shrugged. "If Slytherin could build one without the other three knowing, then Gryffindor could have built one, too."

"But why?" Dan asked. "I mean, we know that Slytherin built one to store his basilisk in it and purge the school of Muggle-borns later. But what reasons could Gryffindor have had for building a chamber?"

"One way to find out," young Malfoy said. "We've got to go in there."

"What?" Gilda gasped. "You mustn't leave the castle again or you'll be expelled for sure! Don't even dream about that, do you hear me?"

"You could also come, you know," Dan grinned at her.

Her face turned slightly pink, then she returned the grin. "When are we going?"

"We've got to wait until Sunday – we're having a match against Ravenclaw on Saturday and Avery isn't likely to let us have free afternoons or evenings for the following three days. After the match, we can go."

"Now wait a minute, hotshot. I just remembered something," Gilda cut in. "The script says: _prove me you are my blood, and enter you may, then_. We cannot go in there, we haven't got a single droplet of blood from Gryffindor."

"You two don't. I do," Dan drew himself up, looking rather smug.

"What?" his friends gasped.

"Haven't I told you yet? Oh, how forgetful I am!" Daniel said. "The Potters descend from Godric Gryffindor. We are his heirs, thus we do have his blood coursing in our veins… and that of Rowena Ravenclaw."

"You mean… Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were… together? Um… _that way_?" Gilda furrowed her brow.

"Well, yeah. Rowena was married to Sal Slytherin, but cheated on him with good ol' Godric and had a son called Godwin. Godwin was raised by the Potter family as their only child. So we Potters all have a bit of Gryffindor in ourselves… that's why I find it downright ridiculous that I got into Slytherin. I should be in Gryffindor!"

"That's right. Do you have any idea, any at all, why the Sorting Hat put you into Slytherin?" asked Gilda.

"Unfortunately no," the boy shook his head.

"You still want to be in Gryffindor, right?" Norbert perceived.

Dan shrugged. "What if I want to? This is not by request. So I think all I can do is make the best out of being in Slytherin… for example beat the crap out of the Ravenclaw team on Saturday."

"Tut, tut, I thought that you liked the ickle Ravenclaws, Dannie," mocked the girl. "Especially because lil Liu is in there."

"Don't even mention Liu to me, okay?" snapped young Potter. "I don't want to hear her name, I don't want to have anything to do with her!"

"Hey, what is this sudden conversion?" Norbert raised an eyebrow.

"You know," Dan replied, "when you almost die, then you are likely to re-evaluate your life, especially your relationship to the girl who almost caused your death. I've done it and come to the conclusion that it isn't worth dying for Liu."

A delighted grin spread on Gilda's face, but Dan didn't notice.

"Well, what about going to bed early tonight?" suggested Norbert. "Tomorrow we'll have Astronomy till midnight, and very possibly a tiring Quidditch training before it."

"Okay, I suppose I could do with some sleep," the girl nodded. "I'm very tired."

"Yeah, because you've been reading all day. You should relax sometimes, you know," said Norbert.

"Relax?" Miss Lockhart snapped. "How could I relax when I've got to prepare for the May quiz?"

"The May quiz? You mean the wizard-knight tournament-quiz?" Daniel looked surprised. "I thought you didn't want to take part in all that madness. You said so back in September."

"Couldn't I have changed my mind as you did?" she crossed her arms. "As far as I remember, Dan, you said the same – that there was no way you'd take part in it and make a fool of yourself… but for days, or rather weeks, you have been rambling about showing your cousin Kevin that you're capable of fighting at a tournament. So, if you can go for the title champion, then why couldn't I go for the title Queen of Beauty and Love?"

"Well… no offence, but you're not exactly the Queen of Beauty and Love type, Gil," Dan shrugged.

"So!" she slammed her book on the table and jumped up – the boys had never seen her so angry. "Why don't you yell into my face that I'm too ugly and unlikely to get a boy's affections, thus unsuitable to be named Queen of _Beauty _and_ Love_? Come on, Dan, tell me! Show yourself true to being Gryffindor's heir and be brave enough to tell me!"

"Gil, I…" Dan stammered.

 "You know what? The Hat was right: you do not belong into Gryffindor because you're a bloody coward; you truly belong into Slytherin, because all that you're good at is insulting people! And just to inform you: you are nothing like a champion, yourself! Good night!"

Seeing her storm off, Dan heaved a huge sigh. "I've screwed it up, right?"

"That you have," Norbert nodded. "And not only your friendship to her, but our possible trip to the cave, too. I bet her first way tomorrow will lead to your dad, Snape or Dumbledore to tell on us. Damn, you really have no idea about women, mate."

* * * * *

"Glad to see that you're feeling better, Miss Bradley," Albus smiled at Beryl and took place on a chair next to her bed. "I heard what happened to you and I got worried."

"There's no need to worry about me, headmaster," she shook her head. "I'm not sick. I'm just…"

"…expecting a baby, I presume," Dumbledore nodded with jovially twinkling eyes.

"How do you know? Madame Pomfrey can't have told you yet, can she?"

"Oh, dear Miss Bradley, I just put two and two together," the old wizard replied. "It wasn't difficult, really. I knew that you spent a night with our Severus in the Shrieking Shack about two months ago and I doubted that you brought pills with yourself to Hogwarts, given that you were supposed to act as a male here. I also doubted that you asked our Poppy for contraceptives after the 'event', because if you had done so, I'm sure that Poppy would have come to me long ago, demanding an explanation why I employed a woman as a caretaker. Finally, when I heard that you lost your consciousness, the first thing that came to my mind was: _is our Severus going to become a daddy_?"

Beryl nodded. "So it was obvious for you, headmaster. My brother-in-law knows, too. But we're not telling anyone else, are we?"

"No, for the time being, we aren't," Albus shook his head. "But, you know, I cannot imagine anything more hilarious than Severus getting to know the truth about you," he added with a wink.

"I wish I could tell him!" the woman sighed. 

"Well… in fact you could. Not right now, but you can, when you see fit."

"No, headmaster," she replied. "You made me swear to keep my gender a secret when I came here, and I'm going to keep my promise… even if both Severus and I will suffer. Gosh, he must be suffering a lot… thinking that he had sex with another man! Neville said that he even looked… um, jealous… the fact is that Professor Snape believes that Neville and I are… a couple."

Dumbledore chuckled. "My, my, poor Severus. I think he really loves you."

"Loves me? I don't think so. Perhaps he loves Bert Bradley, the caretaker, but not Beryl Bradley, the divorced woman who's fleeing from her ex-husband."

The headmaster reached out to pat her hand. "You're wrong, dear. He loves _you_. Either as Bert or as Beryl, it's you he loves. And I trust you love him, too?"

"You have no idea how much," she whispered. "I love everything about him, from his loving for Potions to his scowling, from his eyes to his… hair," here Albus burst into a new fit of giggles, "I even love his nose and his teeth… if only he cared to wash them better…" now Albus was clutching at his stomach, it must have hurt much to laugh so hard.

"Sorry, Miss Bradley… I understand. No one can choose whom to fall in love with, right?"

"How very true, headmaster," she grimaced. "The first man whom I have fallen in love with turned out to be a criminal… the second one is just… well, Snape. That's enough to scare me; I mean… loving a person like him is scary. And bearing his child is even scarier… what kind of a father could he be? He doesn't even like children! He hates them! Perhaps he should never get to know about the baby. What do you think, headmaster?"

Albus gave her a penetrating stare. "Listen here, Miss Bradley. I know Severus. There are very few people who know him as well as I do… and I know that he doesn't hate children. Well, he is a bit… sour, that's right, but believe me, when the time comes and you tell him the truth, he'll melt like butter exposed to sunrays. He is a good man, Snape. Not a particularly kind one, but deep down, he has feelings."

"I know that, Professor. I saw it the first time I met him," Beryl said. "You have no idea how hard it was to convince Neville that Severus was a good man…"

"Ehm, that's quite understandable, I believe, given Mr. Longbottom's bad memories of Potions classes. I trust he told you about them."

"Oh, yes, he did," the woman smiled. "And not only about the Potions classes, but also about his boggart at Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Ah!" the old wizard's eyes lit up. "The wondrous vulture hat! It was your idea to make him wear that costume at Halloween, wasn't it?"

Beryl nodded, giggling. "Severus asked me where I knew it from, but I told him that I had just heard it somewhere… he has no idea that I'm related to Neville."

"I'd like to see his face when he gets to know that, too…" Albus grinned. "Poor Severus, he has no idea about anything. He'll be really, really surprised. The only problem is – I think he doesn't like surprises."

* * * * *

Dan spent the next three days until the match in a rather grumpy mood – so did Gilda Lockhart. She wasn't talking to him, only to Norbert, which was really disturbing, given that they not only had classes together, but three long Quidditch training sessions until Saturday as well.

Daniel wished he could imagine himself turning back time and changing that single line that had spoilt his friendship with the girl. He had regretted it terribly and missed Gilda's chattering and constant reprimanding. Norbert kept telling him that Gilda's anger would disappear soon, but Dan wasn't that much of an optimist.

It was not only him, though, who was sad and distracted – Professor Snape seemed to be struggling with the same problem. Dan didn't tell anyone, but he suspected that Snape's bad mood had something to do with the caretaker. Mr. Bradley had left the infirmary days earlier, but had changed a bit – he wasn't the same talkative person, he seemed to be more occupied with his thoughts and just worked silently, without initiating any kind of conversation with the students. Daniel felt sorry for him – it must be terrible to know that you have slept with Severus Snape, due to a stupid mistake. The headmaster must have ordered some house-elves to help Mr. Bradley with the caretaker's work, because they were seen cleaning the corridors quite often. Daniel put this down to Bert's recent illness – very likely Dumbledore wanted him to do less work as long as he was healing. That was very nice of the headmaster, wasn't it?    

Finally, Saturday came. Strangely to Daniel, he didn't feel worried about this match – at least not half as worried as he had felt when they were playing against Gryffindor. Perhaps it was because he didn't have to play against Kevin and the twins this time. But, this time, he would be playing against Liu Chang, who was one of the Ravenclaw Chasers. However, he didn't really mind having to play against her. His almost lethal experience had somehow sobered him and he wasn't that lovesick anymore. Maybe it had been the fall that had healed him out of his 'liuchangitis', or maybe it had been Myrtle's "sexual harassment" that made him feel less desire for Liu (and for girls in general)… he didn't know, but he was satisfied with this new 'I'm-not-crazy-about-Liu-anymore' condition.  

"Listen here, team, we've got to beat Ravenclaw today," said Ted Avery, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. "We've got to. At all costs."

"What if the Snitch explodes again?" interjected Patrick Parkinson, one of the Chasers.

"That is out of question. Things like that don't happen twice in a row!" Daniel replied, only to get an 'I-didn't-ask-you-Potter'-stare from the captain. Avery didn't like Dan, but Dan didn't care at all. 

"All right, team, out onto the pitch, and show 'em!" ordered the captain, and the players walked out of the changing room, into the nice early-March sunshine. The weather was still chilly, but at least the Sun had decided to play a bit of peekaboo, coming out from behind the clouds every once in a while. 

Daniel was surprised – and pleased – to see his father sitting in the Slytherin stands, clearly showing his support for the team. Last time, of course, he hadn't wanted to hurt either Lily or Dan by sitting at either the Slytherin or the Gryffindor stands, but today was different. 

Lily, Vivian and Valentine were sitting next to Harry, waving happily at Daniel and giving him the thumbs-up. Even Lancelot sat with the twins. Kevin, certainly, took place in the Ravenclaw stands, looking rather sullen. Next to him sat Yvette Weasley, waving the deep-blue flag of her house.

Daniel's spirit lifted, seeing his father, sister and cousins all rooting for his team. Professor Snape gave him a nod, his expression sending him the same message it had in October: _'Results, Potter!_'

As soon as he kicked off on his brand-new _Nimbus 4000_ broomstick, Daniel left all the little bits of worry on the ground, taking only a thirst to catch the Snitch with himself. 

"Aaaand the Quaffle is released, Ravenclaw's got it, Nash in possession, passes to Chang, Chang scores… Avery saves!" came the commentator David Dursley's voice through the magical tone-amplifier. "Slytherin intercepts the Quaffle, but no… a Bludger from Beater Smith and Lavinia Flint drops it…"

Dan watched with a sour expression as Ravenclaw scored five times in a row, while Slytherin only managed to do twice. Despite the exertion of Gilda and Norbert, the Ravenclaw Chasers couldn't be really rattled by the prospect of getting a Bludger to the head… down on the stands Kevin looked very satisfied, and Yvette looked downright smug. Slytherin – true to its name – started to play dirty, earning two penalties for Ravenclaw – Avery intercepted one of them, but the other went through one of the hoops. Sixty – twenty to Ravenclaw. Too bad. 

*Damn it,* Dan thought, *my team's going to lose if I don't catch the Snitch soon. If only I could imagine myself catching it…* he sighed, not even realising that while this line ran thought his mind, the picture of the Snitch flashed into it, too. And there it was, glinting in the sunshine, not more than fifty feet away… had he just imagined it there, or did it really fly that way? He had no idea, but couldn't contemplate it, because there was no time to be wasted. He directed his _Nimbus 4000_ towards the tiny golden ball… forty feet… Dorothea Crockford, the Ravenclaw Seeker didn't seem to have noticed it yet… thirty feet… aha, so Dorothea noticed it, too… twenty… there was no way that she'd catch up with Dan… ten…

"Daniel Potter catches the Snitch! Slytherin win, one hundred and seventy points to sixty!" bellowed David, and the crowd below burst into cheers.

Before Daniel could say or do anything, he got surrounded by his teammates and fellow Slytherins, who hoisted him up onto their shoulders. His father sent him an 'I'm damn proud of you, son!' kind of expression, while Lily and the twins waved at him merrily. Even Lancelot seemed impressed by Dan's performance, although he was that kind of person who was hardly impressed. Kevin and Yvette, of course, fumed at the Ravenclaw stands. Daniel grinned at Kevin, who jumped up from his seat and stormed away. 

Professor Snape also seemed very satisfied, given that young Potter had given him _results_, and sent Professor Sinistra (new head of Ravenclaw house) a wide grin, showing all his thirty-two yellowish teeth. *Gosh, he really needs a whitening toothpaste!* thought Daniel, while the others carried him off the pitch. *A whitening toothpaste? * he mused, not even caring for the cheering crowd anymore, his mind drifting elsewhere… he was sure that he had made the Snitch appear out of nowhere – he had _imagined_ it. Perhaps this was his very first intentional Imagining outside the Imaginer training sessions. The thought thrilled him, still filled him with a little bit of disappointment and guilt – he had caught the Snitch using powers that the other team Seeker didn't possess… that was unfair. He felt a sudden pang of remorse, not even being happy about Slytherin's victory anymore. He had cheated. Because it was cheating, after all. True that other Slytherins wouldn't have felt pangs of remorse because of a bit of cheating, but Daniel just wasn't the average Slytherin.

"Well done, Potter, very well done!" Ted Avery beamed at him, probably already seeing himself in his mind's eye, clutching the silver Quidditch Cup. This was the first time he had lauded his Seeker.

As his fellow team-members put Dan down, Professor Snape did something he had never done to a student before: he patted him on the back and said: "For the first time, I'm happy that Harry Potter's son is in Slytherin. Yes, Potter, however strange this sounds," (Daniel was gaping at him stupidly), "I'm happy about it. Like father like son. You're just as brilliant a Seeker as he was."

"Hey, thanks, Severus," chimed Harry, wearing a grin. Dan stifled a chuckle, comparing his father's flashy white, almost Gilderoyish smile to Snape's. Something really should be done about those teeth! A smirk spread on the boy's face, and he decided to try it again – try Imagining outside class once more. He couldn't harm anyone with it, could he? Certainly he couldn't make professor Snape turn even uglier, so… why not try?

"You were wonderful, little brother!" Lily hugged him.

"Yeah, great, wasn't he?" Norbert added, sending the girl a rather peculiar stare. 

She blushed and nodded, absentmindedly fiddling with a necklace from which little orbs were hanging. "You were great, too, Norbert."

"Really?" young Malfoy's face lit up.

"Really," she blushed even more.

Suddenly, Liu Chang appeared next to Dan. "Well, congratulations, Daniel," she said.

"Thanks," he nodded, turning away in search for Gilda, who – obviously – hadn't taken part in celebrating his wonderful performance.

Liu knitted her eyebrows. "What's his problem with me?" she muttered.

"He's just not interested in you anymore, sweetheart," Norbert said and steered Lily away from her.

"Hey, Dan, what a spectacular catch of the Snitch!" chimed James Lupin's cheerful voice. "Really, Dan, how could you catch it so wonderfully? How could you notice it so much earlier than the other team Seeker? Are you proud of yours… mmmppphhh!" James tried to open his mouth, but his lips seemed to have stuck together for some reason.

Hiding a victorious grin, young Potter dashed past the other boy to catch up with Gilda.   

"Gilda!" he reached her half way to the castle.

"What?" she grunted, not even stopping in her pace.

"Why did you hurry away?" he asked. "Didn't want to celebrate Slytherin's victory?"

"You mean: didn't I want to celebrate _your_ victory?" she retorted derisively. "No, thanks. Go back to your groupies, you have enough of them, you don't need me, too."

"You're wrong," he reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. "I do need you. Not as a groupie, but as a friend."

"Friends don't hurt each other's feelings the way you did," she pointed out.

"I have already apologised for that, haven't I?"

"I don't remember you doing so," she shook her head.

"Then I'm doing it now: Gil, I was a dupe, you're not that ugly at all, and…"

"Not _that _ugly? Oh, how sweet of you!" she shouted.

"I mean…"

"You know what? I don't care what you mean, Daniel! Just let me show you _my_ opinion!"

Before he could jump back or prevent it in any way, her fist met with his jaw, sending him reeling back onto the grass.

"Wow…" he whispered, watching her hurry away, massaging his sore jaw. "She's in love with me!"

"Well, let me congratulate you on Slytherin house's victory," said Professor Sinistra Lupin, offering her hand to Severus Snape. 

"Thank you, Stella," the Potions Master shook her hand with a smile.

"Er… Severus?" she blinked.

"Yes?"

"What happened to your…?"

"Um… what?" Snape asked as the headmaster approached them. 

"Ah, there you are, Severus!" Albus greeted him. "Um… do you have a new hairdo?"

"No," Snape shook his head. "As far as I know, I don't."

"Then… new robes?" Albus asked.

"No," the Potions Master looked rather confused. What was going on here?

"Then… what?" Albus scratched his head. "Something is… strange on you, Severus."

"Strange?"

"His teeth, headmaster," said Stella Sinistra Lupin.

"Oh, indeed!" Dumbledore clasped his hands. "Say cheese, Severus, will you?"

"_What_?"

"Cheese. Say cheese," Albus pleaded.

"Er… cheese," growled Snape, clearly not understanding what this was all about.

"Severus!" the headmaster's face lit up like the Sun at the zenith. "Wonderful! You've got to teach me this new tooth-whitening spell!"

"New what?" the head of Slytherin house blinked.

"Well, the charm that you used on your teeth," Albus said. "Marvellous. Absolutely marvellous."

"What is marvellous?" Snape shook his head in confusion.

"Gilderoy, oi, Gilderoy, would you please come up here?" Dumbledore rose to his tiptoes, waving at Lockhart.

"Yes, Albus?" the P.E. teacher joined them with a flashy smile.

"Would you please stand next to Severus and say cheese? You too, Severus!"

Gilderoy looked surprised, Snape looked grouchy, but both men looked very confused. 

"Well, cheese!" Lockhart complied, and Severus followed suit with an unhappy expression.

"Truly magnificent!" Dumbledore beamed. "Don't you think, Stella?"

"Yes, very much, Albus," she nodded, struggling with her facial muscles not to grin.

"What _is_ magnificent?" Severus beseeched the headmaster, looking desperate and on the verge of going mad. 

"Magnificent that you are likely to win _Witch Weekly_'s Most Charming Smile Award this year, professor," interjected Beryl Bradley, who had also come to see the match but had been sitting far away from Snape so far.

"The what?" the Potions Master gasped.

"That's out of question, Albus," said Lockhart. "That's my title."

"Indeed? Then have a look at Severus' smile, Gilderoy."

"I'm _not_ going to smile at _him,_" Snape declared with a murderous expression. "Not even on your request, Albus."

"Then would you smile at _me_?" Beryl asked in a husky voice.

"Mr. Bradley, I'm not making a fool of myself…" Snape started to say, but got interrupted by Albus saying _Rictusempra_. "That's… hahaha… not… fair…. hehe… not fair, Albus…" he clutched at his stomach, doubling over with laughter, unintentionally showing _a lot_ of his teeth.

"That's really not fair!" Gilderoy Lockhart breathed. "His teeth are flashier than mine!" he was seemingly turning green with envy. "How did you do that, Severus? You've got to tell me your secret!" 

"There – is – no – secret!" bellowed Snape, after having cast the spell _Finite Incantatem _on himself_,_ and stormed away.

"He's greedy. That's why he doesn't want to let us in on his secret," Gilderoy fumed. "But I'll get it out of him, I swear, headmaster. No one can take the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award away from me!"

* * * * *

"Professor Snape!" the caretaker followed him into the castle, barely being able to keep up with his long strides. 

"Leave me alone, will you?" he grunted, not even stopping, not even looking back at her.

"But Professor?!?" she gasped for breath.

In the next instant, he turned around. "My teeth are not flashy, understood?!?"

His sudden outburst took her by surprise, but she didn't lose her sense of humour.

"But they are," she said with a smirk. "And they're pretty, you know that, Professor?"

"No!"

"Then look at this!" the caretaker pulled a small mirror out of her pocket and held it up to Snape's face. The wizard looked away.

"Look at it!" Beryl demanded. Her voice sounded peremptory, and Severus – though very slowly – turned to peer into the mirror. "Good. Now smile."

Snape gave the caretaker a scowl, but obliged – he wanted, needed, to know what was going on. He forced a grin (this must have been rather painful to him, because he looked like a man being tortured), and jumped when he saw it.

"No…" he breathed. "Impossible."

"Impossible? You mean… you didn't even know that you had white teeth?" Beryl frowned. "How is that possible? People usually remember brushing their teeth, don't they?"

"But I have not…" Snape growled. "I mean, I have brushed them, but… not like this. These… aren't my teeth."

"Oh, yes, they are," the woman replied. "I recognise them – one of your front teeth stands a bit more forward than the others… and it always used to be like that."

"I had no idea you have given that much attention to my teeth, Mr. Bradley," Severus knitted his eyebrows.

"I haven't. Just… never mind. I like your new ones very much," she smiled, her warm brown eyes boring deeply into Severus'. "They're becoming."

"Bec… Enough! Enough of this, Mr. Bradley!" the Potions Master yelled.

"Why?" she gave him an innocent look.

"Because… I can't stand… I can't bear…"

"What?" she cocked her head, smiling sweetly.

"Because… damn you, Bert Bradley!" Professor Snape shouted and yanked her to himself, pressing his lips firmly to hers. Before Beryl could start to enjoy it, Severus broke their contact and hurried away as though he were chased by a thousand Lockharts yelling 'I want flashy teeth like yours, Sev!'

Daniel Potter could barely jump behind a suit of armour to get out of the enraged Snape's way, not believing what he had just seen: his Potions professor and the caretaker – snogging? That's all right (or maybe not) that he had heard about those two sleeping together _by mistake_, but this kiss… this _wasn't_ a mistake. It was intentional. Just as intentional as Daniel's imagine-transforming Snape's teeth.

* * * * *

Gilda still wasn't talking to Dan, and he started to miss her – truly miss her. She was there, but only in body, not available for him in spirit as well. And that he missed. During the night of Saturday, he even dreamt about her – the very same dream he had had back in autumn, about himself falling, and Gilda catching him, making him feel all warm and...

He sat bolt upright in his bed, glaring at his straining erection. "No…" he whispered. It was out of question… he couldn't… he couldn't have feelings for her… could he? He hastily muttered _Deminuo _and slumped back into his pillows, his mind reeling. He had been in love with Liu for months, and had even had erotic dreams about her, but… none of those had felt so real… both times when he had dreamed about Gilda, she had felt almost tangible, as if she had been there… but for the time being, she was sleeping in her dorm, perhaps dreaming about how much she despised Daniel.

He shook his head and decided that this couldn't remain this way. He didn't want to be her enemy, he wanted her to be his friend. Or more?

No way.

He wouldn't like her that way, it wasn't… sensible, was it? She really wasn't attractive. She was quite clever (though surely not as clever as Aunt Hermione), and she was a tough fighter, but… that was exactly why she wasn't, couldn't, be Daniel's idea of the perfect woman.

The perfect woman in his opinion looked like Narcissa Malfoy (Norbert had shown him a pic of his mother) – beautiful, fragile, very feminine. Gilda was none of these. Perhaps she wasn't downright ugly, but she wasn't fragile and was very far from feminine.

Still… why this feeling? What could it mean?

"It's just pangs of remorse," Dan told himself. "I feel guilty because I hurt her feelings. That's all, really." At least he hoped so.  

He drew back his curtains, groped for his glasses and his stare fell on Norbert's trunk that stood open next to his bed. With a thought he reached into it, pulling the picture of Mrs. Malfoy out. *Yeah,* he stated in thought, *she's the type of woman I like. Not Gilda.*

Norbert's raven, Ivo, gave him an accusing croak, as if saying 'how dare you rummage in someone else's trunk?'

"Sssh! It's all right, I'm putting it back," Dan whispered, feeling happy that at least Abu didn't wake up. As he placed the picture back into the trunk, his hand brushed something soft, covered with a blue piece of cloth. The invisibility cloak.

*Norbert wouldn't mind if I borrowed it, would he?* he thought and fished the cloak out of the trunk, only to get another reprimanding croak from Ivo. "I'm going to bring it back, don't worry," he said quietly and sneaked out of the dorm.

* * * * *

Miss Lockhart wanted to scream, but couldn't, because a hand firmly pressed onto her mouth.

"Ssssh, it's just me, Daniel!" she heard a whisper, coming out of thin air.

"Mmmmh?" she asked.

"Promise me not to scream and I'll release you," he said.

She nodded, and saw the boy's figure appear in the semi-darkness of her four-poster bed. "What the heck are you doing here, Dan? This is the girl's dorm, if you haven't noticed! And this is _my bed_! What are you doing in my bed…" she squinted at her fluorescent wrist-watch. "…at five o'clock?"

"Nothing dirty, don't worry," he said. "I have just come to apologise – this time _really_ apologise. And you've got to listen to me."

"Oh, really?" she crossed her arms, her vivid blue eyes gleaming with fury. "I don't think you could apologise in such a way that would make me forgive you."

"Maybe I cannot… I'm… not exactly talented with words, you know…"

"I've noticed," she grunted.

"Anyway, let me try, Gil… I'm not going to say anything… not in person… but let me… give you this," he said, and pushed a piece of parchment into her hands. "Just read it, okay? If you still don't want to forgive me after reading it, I accept. But please, give me a second chance."

"A third, you mean," she said. "You've hurt me twice."

"Please?" he asked with a puppy-stare. She could barely make out his features in the darkness, but his warm brown eyes were pleading… and so cute.

"All right," she sighed. "Now out with you! And don't wake the others, I don't want them to think that I'm having boys in my bed at the dead of night!"

He nodded, slipped on the cloak and left the dorm.

Gilda couldn't go back to sleep – and she didn't even want to – she was very curious about Dan's letter. She wondered why he hadn't just sneaked into the dorm and left the letter on her bedside table. She'd ask him later.

She grabbed her wand, said _Lumos_ and made it cast a beam of light on the parchment.       

Her jaw fell as she saw that it was a poem. Gosh, he had written her a poem! But when? During the night? Had he stayed up all night to write her this? Well, he had to, given that the poem said:

_It's already dawn, I'm sitting in my dorm,_

_Weaving word to word, watching a text form,_

_Arranging the words into a pattern,_

_Feeling very guilty, feeling my cheeks burn._

_All I'm feeling now, Gil, is pangs of remorse,_

_It's assaulting me like some terrible force._

_You can laugh at me, Gil, you can say I lie,_

_But it will not make these blasted feelings die._

_There is no denying, I'm a silly git, _

_But have mercy on me, just a little bit…_

_I have long regretted everything I told you,_

_But what I'm telling now is heart-felt and so true:_

_You might not be like a veela, not so very pretty,_

_But you're open, kind and very, very witty._

_You're a true friend, and I miss you – _

_I hope you miss me a bit, too._

_I do not care what you look like,_

_As long as you remain that tyke_

_I've grown fond of since September,_

_You're someone I shall remember,_

_Whatever will happen to me._

_I shall always, always like thee._

Gilda was taken aback. Had Daniel Potter really written her a piece of poetry? She still couldn't believe it, though the parchment with Dan's unmistakable scribble was the material proof for it. She felt blood rush into her face, reading the last two lines. He liked her! He liked her!

No, wait a minute! The poem said he _liked_ her, not _loved_ her. Big difference.

She tried to go back to sleep, but simply couldn't. After half an hour of tossing and turning, she slipped out of her bed, put her dressing gown on herself and headed upstairs into the common room, hoping for a little bit of warmth from the always-crackling-fire. The Slytherin dormitories were quite cold, but the common room at least offered some heat, and heat was exactly what she needed now.

To her surprise, she found Daniel sitting by the fire, staring into the flames. Hearing her arrive, he looked up with a timid little smile. "Hi. Up so early?"

"Yeah… since an evil little chap woke me up. Do you know him?" she replied, sitting down into the green velvet armchair opposite him.

"A short guy with messy black hair, glasses and brown eyes? No idea who it is."

"Oh, so maybe you don't know him… but I do. He's an insolent, and sometimes totally insufferable brat, conceited and selfish, and…" seeing the expression of horror spreading on his face, her mouth tucked into a smirk. "…despite all these things, I like him. He's such a prat, but… can be quite normal if he tries. And… I guess he has a poetic streak."

"Does he?" he grinned.

"Oh, yeah… if he refined his talents, he could become one hell of a poet."

"So… you liked my verse?" he asked with a hopeful glance.

"Yeah, I sort of liked it. It didn't make me forget your insults, but… it must have taken a lot of your time – your night – to write this stuff, so I suppose, I might as well forgive you," she replied. The flames in the fireplace painted various patterns on her face, lighting her short brown hair, making it look a bit reddish-brown. Her eyes were glinting more than usual – whether it was due to the fire's light or something else, Daniel didn't know. All he knew was that she looked… cute. Maybe even pretty. As the flames' little reflections danced in her eyes, she seemed so ethereal, so intangible… yet Daniel wanted to touch her. He tentatively reached out with one hand towards her face, expecting her to pull away or toss his hand away, but she just sat there, motionless, letting his fingers make contact with her skin. She let him caress her cheek, even seemed to be enjoying it. She shifted her head a bit to make her face snuggle completely into his palm, closing her eyes. Daniel wondered how he hadn't noticed before what pretty long eyelashes she had. With her eyes closed, her eyelashes looked particularly long and thick – perhaps it was a feature she had inherited from her Egyptian ancestors. If nothing else, than her eyes were feminine and beautiful. The same colour as Gilderoy's, but the same shape as Anck-sun-Amun's - a bit almond-shaped, like the eyes of the women on the ancient Egyptian wall paintings. 

Before she could open her eyes, she felt something warm and soft touch her lips – and this time it weren't his fingers. She half-opened her eyes to peer at him through her extraordinarily long eyelashes, just to see him pulling away, a blush spreading on his face.          

"Sorry. I shouldn't have," he muttered. "That was just a… um… just a 'we're-friends-again-kiss', okay?"

"Okay," she nodded. "I think I should be going back to the dorm… the girls are going to wake up soon and if they find me with you here… dad wouldn't be happy if I got caught with a boy."

"But… we weren't doing anything," he shrugged. "We just… reconciled. That's all."

"Yeah," Gilda smiled, standing up. "I think that reconciliation is better than fighting, isn't it?"

"Much. Especially if fighting involves getting punched by you, oh great Egyptian warrior! My jaw still aches," he rubbed it with a grin.

She bent down to examine his jaw, but she couldn't see black and blue spots on it. "Never mind, it doesn't even look bad."

"But it still hurts," he pouted. "Perhaps you could kiss it better?"

"Dream about it, Daniel," she grimaced and headed for the stairs. 

"Uh, what about a visit to the cave tonight?" he called after her. "I mean… together with Norbert, of course."

"I'm game," she nodded. "Good night. I mean… good morning."

* * * * *

Daniel spent most of the morning and early afternoon with his cousins Viviane and Valentine. Gilda was avoiding him all day for some reason and Norbert was dallying somewhere with Lily (which Dan was unaware of).

"Have you seen Professor Snape today?" asked Val in a hushed voice.

"No. Should I have?" said Daniel.

"Well…" the twins exchanged a look and burst into a fit of giggles.

"What's up?" the boy frowned. 

"So… you haven't seen Snape since the match yesterday morning?" asked Viv.

"No. Why? What's up with him?" 

"He's changed," Valentine whispered, though she shouldn't have been whispering, because no one was nearby.

"What do you mean by he's changed?"

"His teeth. They're… white. And glittery. He's grown simply… dashing."

Dan made a disgusted sort of noise. "Dashing? Snape? You must be joking."

"No, we aren't. Of course you cannot appreciate a change like this, because you're a boy, but we are girls and we think that he's become downright cute."

Dan rolled his eyes. *Maybe I shouldn't have imagine-whitened his teeth?* he thought.

Kevin Weasley rounded the corner, giving Dan a contemptuous look.

"Oh, hi, Kevin, come and join us in the Snape-discussion!" Viviane beckoned to him.

"I'm not joining you as long as he's here," young Weasley pointed at young Potter.

"Don't worry, Kevin, I'm leaving. You are free to discuss Snape's charming smile."

"Snape's what?" the Weasley boy raised an eyebrow at the girls as Daniel departed. "Charming? Snape? Smiling? Snape? What the hell are you rambling about?"

"Er… well… just look at him," Viviane grinned at her cousin and waved at the Potions Master who was approaching with a rather sullen expression. "Good afternoon, Professor! What a lovely day, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Lovely, Miss Weasley," Snape grunted and hurried past them.

"I don't believe it!" Kevin gaped. "He barely opened his mouth, but his teeth… were practically shining!"

"See, that's what we were talking about," said Valentine. "I bet Professor Lockhart is contemplating which way to commit suicide. Or maybe he has already done it, that's why we haven't seen him all day."

"Speak of the devil," said Kevin, pointing at a pink-robed figure walking towards them. "Oh, good afternoon, Professor Lockhart!"

Gilderoy only nodded and hurried past them, wearing a scowl.

"Teehee… these two don't seem too happy today," grinned Viv.

"Wonder why?" commented Val.

* * * * *

"So, Lils, what do you think about Snape's brand new smile?" asked Norbert. They were standing in the Astronomy Tower, holding hands.

"Snape's what?" the girl furrowed her brow. 

"Never mind," he waved. "No one's smile can be as charming as yours."

"Really?" she blushed.

"Really…" he leaned forward to kiss her when they heard someone clear their throat.

"Harry?" Lily breathed as her father appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Lily? Norbert? May I ask what you two are doing up here?"

"Er…" Norbert hastily released the girl's hand. "Looking at the view, Professor Potter. It's a lovely view, isn't it?"

"Undoubtedly," Harry said, crossing his arms. "But you can watch the view without holding hands and kissing, you know."

"Er… yeah," the boy nodded.

"Norbert, I have something to discuss with my daughter… privately."

"I understand, sir," young Malfoy replied and dashed downstairs.

"So," said Harry.

"So what?" Lily asked, clasping her hands behind her back.

"May I get to know what this was about?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I strongly disapprove of what you are doing with this boy."

"You mean… dating with him?"

"No," he shook his head. "Using him."

"Using him?" she raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Harry?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, young lady. I know that it's Christopher Wood you like, but you're trying to make him jealous by using this boy. It's not fair, Lily. A decent girl would never do such a thing."

"Then maybe I'm not a decent girl," she retorted.

"You know that's not what I meant. I meant that you shouldn't play with that poor boy's emotions."

"Which poor boy? Chris or Norbert?"

"Both. Play fair, Lily. Tell Norbert that you don't like him."

"But I do! I like him. Honestly."

"If you truly liked him, you wouldn't have steered him up into the Astronomy Tower before my very eyes. You wanted me to come up here and tell you off. You are provoking me, Lily. And I don't know why. So tell me. What is going on with you?"

"Nothing!" she snapped. "I'm a teenager, if you didn't know, and my hormones are working overtime!"

"Making a fool of this unfortunate boy and provoking your father isn't the result of overworking hormones," Harry said sternly, sitting down on the windowsill. "Come, Lily. Sit down here."   

"Why?" she asked reluctantly.

"Because I'd like to talk to you. As a father to his daughter."

"Oh, come on, Harry, don't want to give me the talk about the birds and the bees!"

"That's not what I'd like to talk to you about," he said quietly, his emerald eyes boring deeply into her emerald ones.

"Then what?"

"About you. About what's going on in you. Something's amiss with you, Lily, and I'd like to help. Tell me if I can help."

"Help me?" she spat. "You haven't cared for me for years, Harry, and now suddenly you want to play the wonderfully caring daddy?"

"It's not true that I haven't cared for you. I do care for you. Always did."

"But not as much as I would have liked you to," she replied with an accusing expression. "You always thought of me as a good little girl, someone who was good and disciplined enough not to need your special attention. You have spent all your time with Daniel, the triplets and Lea, but never with me. You spent time with Dan because you felt sorry for him, the poor little half-squib… you spent time with the triplets trying to discipline them because they needed it… you spent time with Lea because she was the youngest and cutest, but… _never with me_. You even cared more for your unborn son than for me. You've been ignoring me, Harry."

"Is that why you never called me dad?" he whispered, clearly taken aback by what she had just said.

"Perhaps," she shrugged. "I don't know. I never really felt that you were my father."

Harry felt as though a dagger had been stabbed into his heart. And the main reason was that she was right – at least partly. "You… you don't remember, Lily, but when you were small, you did regard me as your father. And believe it or not, I always loved you exactly as much as I loved your siblings. If you felt that I was ignoring you, then I apologise. I really should have spent more time with you, but, as you said, you were always the good little girl who never put a toe out of line, who never wailed about anything… who never seemed to be in dire need of me. You seemed to be happy, even without me breathing down your neck all the time. I thought you'd be just… mad at me if I followed you around… that you'd feel I didn't trust you enough…" he scrutinised her face, trying to understand her expression, and suddenly he felt that he managed to understand it all. "Is… is that why you provoked me into coming up here? To make me follow you around? To make you feel…"

"…that I have a father. Yes," a droplet of tear ran down her cheek. "I wanted to annoy you into giving me a dressing-down. I wanted you to… behave like a normal father, and normal fathers do tell off their kids," she wiped the tear away. "I needed you, dad. I need you."

"Oh, Lily," he stood up and gathered her into a firm embrace, feeling guilty and feeling touched at the same time – touched, because she had finally uttered the word 'dad'. "Forgive me, please, dearest. I've been a terrible father to you, I know, but… give me a chance to make it up for you."

"All right, dad," she smiled. "But… what about Norbert now?"

"Tell him the truth," Harry said, offering her a hanky.

"But…" she blew her nose, "the problem is, that… I don't know what the truth is… I… I don't know what I feel… I like him. He makes me feel… special…"

"That's my fault, too," her father sighed. "You were looking for someone's attention and fled into his arms. It should have been me who made you feel special, not this boy. It's all my damn fault."

"Dad!" she grinned, "Fathers aren't supposed to swear in front of their children!"

"True," he smiled. "I apologise. I think I still have a lot to learn about parenthood."

"Not that you haven't had enough time to learn it all," she pointed out.

"Yeah… but I suppose I started it too early, Lily. I was way too young, almost a child myself when I became a father… and I fear I still haven't grown up enough for the task. Perhaps I never will… but I'll try, I promise."

"Do or do not. There is no try," she said.

"Aye, aye, Master Yoda!" Harry laughed, slipping an arm around his daughter's shoulder. "Come, we'd better go downstairs. I've still got to go to Hogsmeade," Ginny and the kids had moved back into their renovated house during the week, but Harry hadn't found time yet to visit them in their old/new home sweet home.

Lily nodded, walking downstairs with her dad, whom she was at last calling dad. It felt a bit funny for her to address him like that, but she'd surely get used to it. "Give my love to mum and Lea, and even the triplets, okay?" 

* * * * *

"Seeing you again, Potty?" asked Draco Malfoy, who was scattering some flower seeds on his flowerbeds.

"Malfoy," Harry nodded as a sign of recognition. "How are your flowerbeds doing?"

"Very well, thanks, since my neighbour hasn't been trimming _my_ flowers for a while."

"Oh, don't worry, Malfoy, as soon as your flowers have lice, your neighbour is definitely going to trim them."

"The same stands for your bushes," Draco smirked. "By the way, Potter, are the rumours true about Snape's teeth?"

"What rumours?" Harry raised an eyebrow. He couldn't care less for anything else but Severus Snape, so he had no idea what Malfoy was talking about. Before he could ask, Draco started to clean his hands and face with a quick-cleaning charm. Harry squinted in the direction of the gate, suddenly realising why his neighbour was tidying himself so hastily – Gabrielle Delacour was standing at Draco's gate, peering in, waving. 

"Ah, here's Gabie!" Malfoy breathed. "Sorry, Potty, I can't chat with you any longer…"

"I'm heart-broken," Harry replied with a grimace, watching as Draco dashed to the garden-gate. Ginny had told him about the ring Gabie was wearing, but he seriously doubted that Malfoy had really married the girl. Had they been married then they'd be living together, in the same house, wouldn't they?

With a shrug, he turned away from his neighbour and the part-veela, heading for the house.

The building had been restored to its original state, and perhaps it even looked better than earlier with new painting and everything. The garden pond was filled with water again and some frogs were croaking on lily pads. It was absolutely idyllic, with the exception of…

His glance fell on a small rock under a tree – a rock with the word _Hedwig_ on it.

Harry's heart wrenched as he walked past it, but he tried to ignore the sudden wave of sadness that washed over him. This was no time to grieve; he wanted to spend a wonderful evening with his family, especially with his wife. Three months of 'celibacy' had been a bit too much for him and he craved for her closeness and touch as much as a thirsting man would crave for water in the Sahara.

Meanwhile, Daniel was also thirsting for something, though he couldn't really tell what. It was some kind of a need, but… for what? He felt somehow empty after his morning encounter with Gilda. He felt relieved that she had forgiven him, but he hadn't seen her all day. She didn't even appear for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Just after dinner, she finally put in an appearance, looking rather happy about something.

"I've found it," she said.

"What?" asked Daniel and Norbert in unison.

"_Visualicus Noxus_ - the charm that allows us to see in the darkness without saying _Lumos_."

"What the hell do we need such a charm for?" yawned Norbert.

"Oh, don't be such a dupe," she said. "How else could we get through Hogsmeade without getting noticed by anyone? We'll be wearing your invisibility cloak, right? It'd look rather peculiar if we held up our wands with the little flames at the tip while walking under the cloak, wouldn't it? People would find it rather… suspicious. If there's a flame swimming in the air, then there has to be a wizard conjuring it, too, and we'll get caught."

"Hm, quite clever, I have to admit," replied young Malfoy.

"Of course it's clever," she nodded. "'Cause I'm _very-very witty_, right, Dan?" she grinned at the boy, who turned red, realising that she had just quoted half a line of his poem.

"Yeah. So… are we going or not?"

With the help of the Marauder's Map, they crept through the tunnel to Honeydukes. It seemed that Gilda had not spent her whole day in the library in vain – she had found a spell with which they managed to open Honeydukes' front door that was sealed both in magical and Muggle way. The other charm that she had found was also excellent – she cast it on the boys and herself, this way allowing them to see in the darkness for ten hours. After that the charm would wear off.

"We should have asked you to come with us the last time we went to the well," whispered Norbert to the girl, clearly amazed by her knowledge on spells. "Perhaps you could have stopped Dan from falling into it."

"Had she stopped me, we would have no knowledge of Gryffindor's secret chamber," Daniel whispered back.

They were walking very slowly along the main street of Hogsmeade, since they couldn't proceed quick enough under the cloak.

As they reached the Malfoy house, they saw two figures standing at the gate, quite close to each other.

"Really, Gabrielle, why are you turning me down? We've been married for more than three months and we still haven't had our wedding night!" whined a male voice.

"And we aren't going to 'ave it at all. I 'ave told you, 'aven't I? Marriage, but no sex. Ghrin and bear it."

"But Gabie…" he sighed, gently pulling her to himself. 

"Is zat a wand in your pocket, Draco, or are you just zis 'appy to see me?" she asked.

Gilda couldn't help but let out a small giggle, immediately clasping her hands over her lips.

"What was that?" Draco Malfoy released his wife and looked around, holding up his wand with the tiny flame at the end.

"I don't see anyzing," Gabrielle said. "Maybe it was a mouse, or… a ferrhet?"

"A ferret?" Draco snorted irritably and Daniel also had to clasp his hands over his mouth to stifle the chuckle that wanted to burst out of him – he had been told about the amazing bouncing ferret by his Uncle Ron.   

They walked past the two blondes, only to arrive in front of the Potter house. The window of the Potter parents' room was open and rather unmistakable noises were coming out.

Dan blushed slightly, happy that his expression couldn't be seen under the cloak. He nudged his friends to proceed, not wanting to hear snide comments from Norbert. 

* * * * *

"So this is that well," said Gilda, peering down into the abyss below. Thanks to the _Visualicus Noxus_ charm, Norbert found the entrance into the second cave without difficulty. It seemed that the ladder that Harry had conjured into the well hadn't been removed after their first visit to this cave.

"How thoughtless of dad to leave it here," commented Daniel, starting to climb down. The other two followed him.

Twenty minutes later they were standing in front of the door that was emitting some diffuse light.

"It's okay that one should be Gryffindor's heir to open the door, but… how could I prove it that I'm Gryffindor's heir?" Dan pondered.

"Give me your hand," said Norbert.

Dan had no idea what his friend had in mind, but he reached out with his right hand. Norbert placed the tip of his wand to the tip of Dan's index finger.

"Ouch!" Dan jerked his hand back, seeing droplets of blood seeping from his finger. "What was that good for?"

"Simple," Norbert replied, catching his hand again, and pressing his bleeding finger into a small oval dent on the door. In the next instant the door started to glow even more, emitting light that was almost blindingly white, then slowly, very slowly, with a loud creak, it opened. The doorframe was still filled with dazzling white light, so that they couldn't see beyond it, into the chamber.

Daniel gave his friend a dubious look. "How did you know that?"

Norbert rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you haven't realised that the small dent on the door was exactly finger-tip-shaped? It was just obvious what to do. Anyway, my father taught me quite a bit about using blood in magic…"

"You know, sometimes you scare me," breathed Daniel.

"Scared or not, would you two please move forward?" spoke up Gilda.

"Er… okay," young Potter motioned her to enter.

"No," she smiled. "It's your privilege. You're Gryffindor's heir, after all."

Dan shrugged, took a deep breath and entered the white light.  

**A/N:** I know that Lily's tirade directed at her father was a bit peculiar. I must admit that only two months after I wrote this chapter did I realise WHY I had written those things. Subconsciously I projected my own feelings about my own father into Lily's head: my parents got divorced when I was one year old and my dad remarried and adopted two kids. My brother Andrew is witty but very hard to control, extremely mischievous, thus he needs father's special attention and gets it. My sister Anne is very peaceful and nice, but not exactly bright – so she also needs his attention and gets it. As for me, I've always been clever like Andrew and peaceful like Anne – the good little girl who never put a toe out of line, so perhaps my dad thought that I didn't need his special attention – and never got it. I never really felt that I had a father. I think he doesn't even know me. I'm sure he has no idea that I'm writing HP fanfics, even though I have mentioned it to him on several occasions. Even my friends know me much better than he does :( Sorry about spilling my family problems on you, I just wanted to explain Lily's behaviour. So, in this chapter Lily was _me_.

_PhoenixFire_: thanks for the correction, you're right about Native Americans. Snape will get to know the truth about Beryl in chapter… 22, I think.

_thecrazygirl:_ this story will have 31 chapters.

_jennaration_: of course I'm going to show you what's behind the door :D

_Princess Ginny_: yes, I got your mail :)

_Black Ice:_ yes, it's like a soap opera, isn't it? ;) Do you like Orion? It's my fave constellation, it's so pretty!

_BigDaddy753_: glad you like them so much :D

_Alexander Phoenix_: perhaps this chapter was even odder than the previous one? What do you think? I hope you won't stop reading, though.

_Inigma_: yes, I have readers of all ages, the youngest I know of was 12, the eldest is over 50 (a twenty-something year old reader of mine told me that even her fifty-something year old mum read it, LOL).

_X-Tow-Naga:_ Ginny doesn't like apparating ;) You're right about 12 year olds wanting adventures… but Dumbledore just tries to protect his students from all dangers. Yup, you're right, it should have been Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy :) Yes, I know that Dan wasn't supposed to be able to decipher the old script, but he had to, for plot reasons. Interesting theory about the poem… I had no idea about these madins. You wrote: "_Hogwarts don't seem to care if its teachers are gay, but the caretakers can't be female? That's pure sexism_!" LOL, I was rotfl when I read this. But you're right, it's evil sexism.

_Lioness-07863_: no, Harry isn't needed to open the chamber :) Philippe is a Muggle.

_Wood's secret lover:_ well, now you know how Dan proved being heir of Gryffindor. Yes, Snape was too drunk and under the effect of the potion to realise that Beryl was a she. Lockhart? Petunia? As the enemy? LOL :D

_jasper_: Snape will find out Beryl's secret in chapter 22, as far as I remember. 

_rebkos:_ Bert isn't transsexual, he's a she and she's pregnant with Snape's kid. Check back to the previous chapter.

_No longer a Lone Wolf_: don't worry, Dan won't let Myrtle get to him again! 

_starheart20:_ eleven chapters left.

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: yes, of course I'll show the parent/teacher Quidditch match! And it will be fun.

_LilGinny:_ I'm glad I could make Cherie happy :) You know what? Norbert wears leather all the time! (I'm just not mentioning it in the story, but you're free to imagine that he does).

_Altec:_ Snape's like Charles Darwin… hm… that's interesting. But imagine Snape with a beard like Darwin's, LOL :D You wrote: "_how did Beryl meet up with Dumbledore in the first place if neither her nor Philippe are wizards?"_ Well… there's Neville, he's the link between Albus and Beryl.

_Punky Poet_: you'll find out more about Beryl's ex later, don't ask when, I don't remember in which chapter I mention it.

_Lavendar Brown:_ was your birthday nice? What did you get as a present?

_AmandaPanda_: Snape will find out, but not from Beryl ;) Dan's wish… I'll come back to that in the final chapter.

_Katie Bell_: sorry, I forgot Katie's marriage to Oliver! Stupid me! Btw, I decided to register on fictionalley and I submitted some arts to ArtisticAlley. If you have time, could you please review them? People don't seem too willing to review them, especially my poor Albus and Ron/Herm... you'll find them in the Cho, Ron, Harry and the Albus section.

_Lupin's Angel_: no orcs? Whew, I'm relieved :D No, I haven't seen any pics of the PoA filming yet. Did the Express really set a field on fire? 

_puppy duck_: hey, lovely name, very funny :) Norbert couldn't have wished for Daniel not falling into the well, because he had already used his wish before Daniel did (I supposed that one could have only one wish from the well). I haven't read Artemis Fowl, I don't even know whether we have it published on Hungary or not. Who's the author?

_sabby:_ yes, it's hard to picture Sev as a daddy, isn't it? ;) A three-headed lion in the chamber? Oh, no…

_Sky:_ yeah, it was quite obvious that Bert was a she, wasn't it? :D Though still only 20% (or less) of my readers managed to guess it before chapter 19.

_Hermione We@sley_: yeah, Lily and Norb don't resemble any other couple, do they? :))

_Houou:_ it's an interesting concept that the greatest enemy might be Harry himself… really interesting. I never thought of this before. Philippe is a Muggle.

_Toby Haine_: so you didn't even suspect that Bert was a girl? Teehee… I'm glad I could surprise you, then. Where did I learn the word gobsmacked? Whew, no idea. Must have read it in a book or a fic.

_FireBolt9000:_ it's Liu, not Lui :) Anyway, you used to say you wanted Dan and Liu together… and now you called Liu a psycho. Does this mean that you no more like her? (I hope so;)

_Indigo Ziona_: don't worry, no Alice in Wonderland will be in this fic :) Yeah, I can imagine how Myrtle freaked you out – she freaked Dan out, too.

_2Coolio_: yes, clupea was the same word I used for Ginny's pregnancy, Poppy remembered it :) Philippe as the evil person? Now that's interesting! Please, read my answer to Altec.

_Inken_: Myrtle getting pregnant? No, for heaven's sake! A ghost couldn't carry a baby… at least it sounds totally unbelievable. But I laughed aloud when I read your supposition about it, LOL. Harry didn't want Dan to be expelled, he was just mad at his son for having caused him such a shock.

_Phoenix_Kiss02_: you'll see the chamber in the next chapter. More on the shock and grief thingie later… in chapter 28. I'm glad I could make you rotfl with Snape soon becoming a daddy ;)

_TaMaraR_: the caretaker's real name is Beryl Bradley. Glad you liked the Harry/Lily scene in the last chapter. Did you like it in this one, too? I hope so.

_Wizzabee:_ well, now you know that Bradley is in love with Snape. About marriage… well, Sev has to find out the truth at first, don't you think?

_seashell:_ no, what Dan will find in the chamber is not the evil.

_SiriDragon_: I hope you're in better mood now :D

_The Millenium One_: glad you thought I managed to write something really 'twisty', LOL.

_C-chan:_ yes, about 5-6 people managed to guess that Bradley was a woman after chapter 18. I have just started to read I am lord Voldemort, and it's really cool. You said you thought I had written it… but no, I don't think I could have written anything as good as that. 

_Sean Mulligan:_ because some rules at Hogwarts are very old-fashioned and stupid :)

_Katrina:_ I agree, it's hard for a woman to disguise herself as a man, but with some make-up perhaps she could. She also has a lean body with small tits, so nothing too obvious… You don't need to review twice, just review once for each chapter, and it'll keep me happy :D

_Bucky_: yes, Snapie deserves a family. He might as well have twins, dunno, the baby(s) won't be born in the fic. What is midol? Some kind of contraceptive? Ugly Cho? LOL :) 

_goldenstar555_: I'm glad I could surprise you, then.

_ruffled owl_: not all women have big boobs. Bradley is a very lean woman with small ones. Hehe, she resembles me in this respect :)

_Nefertiri:_ I agree, I don't think that being gay suits Snape. Unfortunately way too many authors make him gay, and he usually falls for poor Harry… ;)

_romina_: what did you think when you read 'should I say miss…'? I'm curious!

_heavenly182angel_: of course I know the Big Dipper :) It's one of the most widely-known constellations. However, my favourite one is Orion. Yeah, Myrtle was disturbing, wasn't she?

_Kristen Michelle_: I AM having fun torturing Snape :D

_Zenon Lee_: no, there won't be any kind of a scandal in this fic. The pregnancy will be kept a secret before the students.

_Keila_: I'm glad you thought Bradley was a bit girly, that just means I wrote her all right.

_Any last requests_: I don't think Norbert would be able to Wingaridum Leviosa Dan out of the pit… *shrugs* no idea.

_Tap Dancing Widow_: yes, the Big Dipper is part of Ursa Major. Yup, Oliver's coming back for a match :D

_Shazzman_: I don't remember that episode in which Edmund falls in love with this servant. I remember that once he wanted to marry a very young girl, who was still a child. 

_Myr Halcyon_: no, Beryl's personality isn't a reflection of mine. Lily and Gilda have much more in themselves of me. But well, I am also a pro-lifer in most cases. Of course if it turns out that a baby would be born with a serious illness then I am for abortion, and also if the parents wouldn't be able to provide their baby normal circumstances. But Beryl would surely be able to… especially if Sevvie helped her ;) Rudolph? Hahaha! Btw, thanks for reviewing on checkmated, you were right: the Knockturn Alley scene got longer: I inserted a prostitute witch wanting to seduce Dudley.

_apple-pie_: Sev will find out soon :D There's some reason for Lily's behaviour that I can't reveal yet. Glad you liked the Astronomy riddle :)

_Lady Schezar_: of course you may join the Cho hater club! Welcome!

_Autumn Dreams_: there'll be a bigger fight between Dan and Kevin. Snape isn't a cannibal, LOL.

_Pamela-potter-24_: yes, Snape will be scared for sure :D


	21. Great news great ruse?

**A/N**: the diary excerpt is supposed to be in italics, I don't know whether ffnet keeps the italics when I upload this.

This chapter is dedicated to Kamatazi Yumi, who has birthday tomorrow and Phoenix_kiss02 whose birthday is on the 21st. Happy birthday to you both!

This chapter is a tad crazier than the previous ones, but as Harry says at the end of GoF: "_We could all do with a few laughs. I've got a feeling we're going to need them more than usual before long."_

What do I mean by this? *sigh* The war. I don't know what to think about the future, what will be about Iraq's retaliation policy… but I admit that I'm very afraid. I don't think I have ever been this afraid of anything. However, all I can do is pray for the peace and promise you that as long as I'm alive and have an Internet connection, I will continue updating.

**Chapter 21**

**Great news – great ruse? **

For a single second, Daniel felt he'd go blind in the incredibly strong white light, but as soon as he stepped over the curb, into the chamber, the white light vanished from the doorframe, forming itself into wonderful golden light-balls, that got scattered along the walls, settling into blood-red torch-brackets. In an instant these peculiar lamps of sparkling golden light illuminated the whole chamber. 

"Wow," Norbert breathed. "The old Gryffindor really knew some magic, eh? Haven't seen stuff like this before."

"Beautiful," Gilda agreed, never taking her eyes off the golden orbs functioning as lamps. "They even have Gryffindor's colours – the brackets are red, the light is gold."

"I'm really proud of my ancestor," Daniel grinned smugly, turning around to see everything.

The chamber wasn't too large and it didn't have much furniture in it – there were only a couple of bookshelves with dust-covered tomes and a huge red marble table. 

"This place could use some cleaning spells," Gilda commented, idly drawing a circle into the one-inch-thick dust-layer on the table's surface. "Hm… here's a booklet. It must be important if the old guy left it on his table... Let's see what he wrote in it," she bent over the book and blew the dust off it. After a heavy bout of coughing, she opened the little red book that was written in with golden ink. "Typical Gryffindor – red and gold again," she said. She beckoned the two boys to the table. "It's some kind of a diary… or an ancient message-board? Listen to this: 

                                                                                                            _the 1014th year of the Lord_

_My dear Son, Godwin,_

_If you are reading this, it means that I'm dead and you have reached your fifteenth birthday. Congratulations, you have become a man._

_You have no idea how sorry I am, but this is the only way I could enter into contact with you, given certain unfortunate circumstances. I don't know what your foster parents, the Potters, told you about your real parents – I don't know whether they told you at all that they only raised you, but I believe that it's time for you to know the truth. _

_I have sent your foster parents an owl, letting them know about this chamber – the chamber that I built for you, Son. In my mail, I asked them to keep this chamber a secret until you turn fifteen, and tell you about it when you are old enough to know the truth. I am sure that the Potters have been wonderful parents to you, and I'm happy to know that your childhood has been spent under two such wonderful persons' care. As I have already said, I don't know what exactly they have told you, but I'd like to tell you the whole truth now._

_It all began with a forbidden love – the love that I felt for Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, who later became Lady Slytherin by marrying my one time best friend, Salazar Slytherin. Rowena and I had been in love for years before she got married, I even wanted to engage her, but her father and Salazar's father insisted on making their children join in the holy bind of matrimony._

_There was no way we could stop the inevitable. So, I lost my lady, but her love for me never ceased to exist. We kept meeting in secret, and our love got blessed – she conceived. Her husband, who, meanwhile, had turned into a very, very cruel man – a man who was no more my friend - never got to know about her pregnancy. _

_Salazar spent several months abroad, and by the time he returned, you were born. In order to avoid Slytherin's wrath, Rowena gave you to the Potters – who are some distant relation of hers – to raise you. Not much later, she died. Many say she was ill, others say she was treated cruelly by her husband who tortured her to death – we may never know. I don't think that Salazar truly loved her, because he re-married shortly after she died. I never got married, because I loved your mother too much to give my heart to another woman. _

_Salazar's mother is a true Seer, all her predictions have come true so far. Years ago, she made a prediction: "A millennium later, Slytherin's heir will be the greatest dark wizard of all times, destined to rule over the whole wizarding world. However, he will be the last heir of Slytherin, because the heir of Gryffindor shall bring about his destruction." Salazar has always believed in his mother's predictions, and I fear he believed this one as well. This is the reason why I am sure that Salazar will attempt to kill me. And if he fails the first time, he'll try again and again until he finally reaches his aim and believes that the problem is taken care of: if I die, then I can no more produce an heir who can kill his heir. The only thing he didn't take into account is that I already have an heir – you. I don't know whether he is still alive when you are reading this, but in case he is, make sure that he never gets to know your true identity, Godwin._

_You are the heir of Godric Gryffindor, and you have to pass your heritage down to your descendants, because the prediction has to come true. You have to know that Salazar's mother's prophecy is not the only one telling about my heir causing the death of Slytherin's last one. _

_A Greek witch called Cassandra two thousand years ago also made a prediction about a black-haired boy who would be born around the end of this millennium. This boy is bound to fall in love and the love of his life shall sacrifice herself to save him from the evil dark lord, this way bringing about the downfall of the most powerful dark wizard, who will be none other than Salazar's heir. _

_The text of Cassandra's prophecy has been translated into English by the evil Mim, who stole it from Merlin, but Mim stole an incomplete prophecy that is two verses short. The first five verses only tell us about the black-haired boy, but the last two ones tell about the girl who is going to cause the death of Salazar's last descendant. Whoever reads Mim's version, will think that the boy is the key, but those select few who read the original – seven verses long - version shall know that it is really the girl. Merlin was a good friend of mine – a mentor for me. He died at the age of 486 years and entrusted me to take care of the original version of Cassandra's prophecy. _

_Now that my life is in danger, I gave Merlin's version to my friend, Archibald Dumbledore. Besides your foster parents, he and his wife are the only ones who know about your existence as my true heir, Godwin. They are people you can trust and turn to with confidence. I believe they have a son of your age. I also possess a bit of the talents of a Seer, and I have seen that you'd become good friends with him as soon as you get to know each other. Though I trusted the Dumbledores very much, I did not tell them about the chamber. Just you, your foster parents and me know about it._

_It is important that no one else besides the Potters and the Dumbledores may know who you really are, my Son. You must be safe from Salazar, grow up, marry and have children to pass your heritage down to them, so that they can carry a bit of Gryffindor in themselves until the time comes and the prophecy is supposed to be fulfilled. _

_The predictions made by Cassandra and Salazar's mother are the same from a certain point of view, but Cassandra's shall live on, while Slytherin's mother's is going to lose its meaning as soon as I die without a wife and children. _

_As soon as Salazar manages to do away with me, he shall forget about the prediction and live his life happily, not fearing that his bloodline will ever be broken by a descendant of mine, since he has no idea about you. And that should stay that way. I ask you – no, beg you – to go on with your life as Godwin Potter – not Godwin Gryffindor. No one may know that I have ever fathered a child…_

"It all fits!" Dan cut in excitedly.

Gilda stopped reading out the diary entry/message with a furious expression, clearly angry about having been interrupted. "What fits?"

"Everything," young Potter said. "Sal Slytherin thought that Godric had no heirs and didn't care for his mum's prediction anymore. The real version of Cassandra's prophecy was in the Dumbledore family's possession, that's how Albus Dumbledore knew about it, that's how he could plan the whole 'let's rid the world of Voldemort' action."

"The what action?" the girl blinked, confused.

"Well, Dumbledore knew about Cassandra's prediction and as soon as dad got mum pregnant with my sister Lily, Dumbledore made sure that Voldemort would kidnap my mum and Lils, giving dad a reason to go after them and giving mum an opportunity to sacrifice herself for dad, this way causing Voldie's destruction."

"Voldie?" Norbert grimaced. "Shouldn't you talk about the greatest dark wizard ever with a bit more respect?"

"You mean the greatest dupe?" Dan smirked. "Voldemort was a loony, I tell you, totally out of his mind… no wonder that the headmaster was clever enough to trick him with a false recipe…"

"What recipe?" Gilda asked.

"The recipe of the _Potion of Eternity,_" young Potter replied willingly. "It should have made Voldemort immortal, but Dumbledore changed the ingredients before sending Snape to Voldie with it."

"Snape?" breathed the girl. "How did he become involved in all this?"

"Quite easily. He was a Death-Eater, like father," Norbert said. "A Death-Eater who betrayed his lord."

"C'mon, Norb, don't talk about it as though it had been something bad!" Dan grinned. "I think it was something cool. Good old Snape was quite witty to be able to deceive Voldie again, giving him the wrong recipe. Dad told me everything about the showdown at Stonehenge – imagine, Snape was dressed up as a Death-Eater, but as soon as Dumbledore and some others arrived to help dad, Snape started to fight against his fellow Death-Eaters. Sirius almost killed him, because he thought Snape belonged to Voldemort's groupies, but dad saved his life."

"What? Your father saved Snape's life?" Gilda's huge blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah," Dan nodded. 

"Wonder whether we'd be better off if he hadn't," Norbert added.  

"Why don't you like Snape?" Daniel asked his friend. "Not because he betrayed Voldemort, right?"

"Of course not," young Malfoy shrugged. "I grew up hearing father cursing his one time friend Severus for having abandoned their lord. It rubbed off on me, I can't help it. I came to Hogwarts with a great deal of prejudice against Snape, but… somehow I don't hate him that much anymore. Dunno why…"

"Maybe because of his new smile?" a voice spoke up behind them.

The three kids turned around to see a pearly-white thing hovering in the doorframe, looking at them curiously.

"Myrtle. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Daniel growled, his memories of their last encounter chasing each other in his mind, making him feel disgusted and embarrassed at once.

"Just the usual," the ghost replied. "I wanted to watch a mermaid teaching her little son to swim, but her husband didn't really tolerate my presence…"

"…and tossed you into this cave again," Dan finished her sentence.

"Right," Myrtle nodded. "What are you three doing down here? How did you manage to open this door? I tried to float through it for several times but never succeeded. It must have been protected by some ghost-repelling charm, I don't know. What is in here? What are all these books? Oh, how cool! I love these lamps! Not even Hogwarts has stuff like this! Very original! Say, how…"

"Sod off, Myrtle, it's none of your business!" Dan said angrily.

"Sod off?" the ghost burst into tears. "That's so mean of you, after what happened between us here last time!" she wailed.

"Why? What happened between you?" Gilda gave the boy a questioning look.

"Nothing," Dan turned slightly pink. "She's raving."

"I'm – not – raving!" Myrtle yelled, her cheeks glowing in a more intense silvery colour, showing her fury. "Dan and I were kissing passionately!" 

"Shut up, will you?" the boy hissed at her.

"No, Myrtle, don't shut up!" Gilda cut in. "I want to know it all!"

"No, you don't!" Dan yelled.

"Oh, yes, I do!" she stamped her foot. "Come on, Myrtle, tell me!"

"So…" the ghost drew herself up proudly, "It happened so…"

"I'm not listening to this!" Dan spat and stormed out of the chamber.

"Er… better not leave him alone! We'll meet up in the outer cave," Norbert told Gilda. "Close the chamber's door if you leave, will you? I bet that closing it won't need the blood of Gryffindor," with that he hurried after his enraged friend.

Ten minutes later Gilda caught up with the boys. As she emerged from the well, she saw a very sleepy-looking Norbert and an extremely miffed-looking Daniel pacing the outer cave.

"Whatever Myrtle told you was a lie," Dan told the girl.

"Really? I don't think so," she replied.

"Don't say that you could ever imagine me kissing someone like Moaning Myrtle!"

"Well, in fact I could," she shrugged, but seeing the appalled – and clearly hurt – expression on Dan's face, her mouth tucked into a grin. "No, Dan, of course I don't believe that you'd do such a thing! You must have been out of your mind… maybe because of the concussion. You fell into this pit and very possibly hit your head – you had no idea what you were doing… right?"

"Exactly," the boy nodded eagerly. "I'm soooo relieved that you don't believe Myrtle's rambling…I could never like someone like her."

"And could you actually like someone… like me?" she asked with an impish grin.

"Didn't I show you this morning?" he blushed, totally forgetting that they weren't alone.

"What did you show her this morning?" Norbert cut in.

"Er… my…"

"Poem," Gilda interjected, to save Dan from even more embarrassment. "He showed me a piece of poetry he had written."

"Really?" young Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "I never knew you wrote poems… not since your pathetic attempt at writing one for Liu Chang."

"What? You have written Liu one, too?" the girl breathed.

"Er…"

"You know what? I don't want to know," Gilda waved impatiently. "I'm sleepy. Let's go back to the castle before our dorm-mates discover our absence."

"Okay. We'll come back here later," Daniel nodded. "I can't wait to read more of Gryffindor's diary." 

"Meeeee toooooo..." young Malfoy yawned. "But next time we should make sure that Myrtle doesn't interrupt us."

* * * * *

The next week passed uneventful for Daniel. He and his friends decided not to go back to the cave for a while, not to wake the teachers' and their fellow classmates' suspicion.

Right on Monday evening, Dan had his next Imaginer training session with Professor Dumbledore, who greeted him with a peculiar question: "_Was_ _it you, Daniel?"_

"What, sir?"

"Did you transform Professor Snape's teeth?"

"Er…" the boy looked at his shoes for a while, and only dared meet the headmaster's eyes after about a minute – lucky that Albus Dumbledore was a patient man. "Yes, sir. It was I. And I'm sorry, sir. I know I shouldn't have, I just…" 

"Daniel," Albus cut in, "don't apologise. I like what you did - rather… amusing," his blue eyes twinkled with youthful joy. "Of course I should reprimand you for using your powers outside class, but this one time, I can only say 'well done'."

Daniel's face lit up. "You truly like it, sir?"

"I do," Albus nodded. "But I can't say the same about Severus, I'm afraid."

"I know," Dan hung his head. "I heard him yell at Mr. Bradley that his teeth weren't flashy at all and that Mr. Bradley should leave him in peace…"

"And what did Mr. Bradley do?" Albus asked.

"Showed the Professor a mirror. And the Professor almost got a heart-attack when he saw himself in it."

Dumbledore stifled a chuckle. "I can imagine that."

"Sir?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Is it possible that… Professor Snape is… um…"

"What?"

"…gay?"

"What gives you that idea, my boy?"

Daniel pursed his lips, thinking that perhaps he shouldn't have brought up the topic at all. Damn his eternal curiosity. "Well… I saw him kissing the caretaker."

"Did you?" a huge smile spread on the headmaster's face.

"Yeah," young Potter shrugged, not having the vaguest idea how Albus could be happy about this. "I promise I won't tell anyone… I just thought I'd ask you."

"A bit too curious, aren't we, Daniel?" Dumbledore gave the boy a quizzical look.

"I fear so," the boy said, thinking that if the headmaster only knew _how curious_ he was, he'd be definitely expelled. "Sir… I think I should stop playing Quidditch," he said to change the topic.

"Stop it?" Albus blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because… I've cheated, sir," Dan said, looking down at his shoes again. "I s'pose I influenced the Snitch's way – I… I made it fly exactly my way. That's cheating, isn't it?"

"If it was intentional, Daniel, then it is," the old wizard replied.

"No. It wasn't intentional. Or perhaps it was… I don't know. I just thought that my team was losing the match and how cool it'd be if I could catch the Snitch and win the game for Slytherin… and then I felt the usual surge of energy leave my body, and the Snitch came into view… I made it happen… but I wasn't exactly angry, not even scared… I think it was my first intentional Imagining outside class, but I didn't mean to cheat with it… still I did. And I feel terrible about it."

The headmaster sent the boy a peculiar glance. "You know, son, the day after the Sorting your father came to me to ask why the Hat put you into Slytherin, and I answered that whatever the Hat had done, it must have been right. But I'm not sure about it anymore. You are nothing like a Slytherin."

"Really?" Dan's face lit up. "But I thought I was! I felt vindictive on several occasions… I wanted to hurt Kevin and the twins, and I still…"

Dumbledore waved to shut him up. "My dear boy, everyone has a bit of thirst for vengeance. If we didn't, we wouldn't be humans at all. I totally understand that you bear a grudge against Mr. Kevin Weasley, who – in my opinion – has been really mean to you. I for one bore a grudge against my own brother for more than a century."

"Why, sir?" young Potter asked curiously.

"Ehm…" Albus seemed to have gone pink – or did Daniel just imagine it? "Aberforth played a rather nasty trick on me and I just couldn't forgive him… and I wasn't even in Slytherin. I was a Gryffindor. It seems that Gryffindors can behave like Slytherins and Slytherins like Gryffindors."

"Slytherin or not, I still cheated. I shouldn't be allowed to play anymore," Dan insisted.

"We shall discuss this later," Dumbledore said. "Now tell me please, how did you get the idea of sticking poor James Lupin's lips together? And how did it occur to you to use your powers on Professor Snape?"

"Well… after I caught the Snitch, I was quite surprised that I _managed_ to do intentional Imagining outside class, and I thought that I might as well try to do it again, just to make sure that it _was_ intentional what I did to the Snitch."  

"Ah, I see," Albus nodded. "I believe you have reached a higher level of your Imaginer talents – you are almost on the same level as Godwin Potter was at the end of his life."

"This means… that we are really going to run out of syllabus soon, right, Professor?" Daniel asked dejectedly. 

"I'm afraid so. One or two more training sessions, and I won't have anything more to teach you. From that time on, it will all depend on you – you've got to practice everything you have learned so far, and with a bit of luck, you might find a way to further develop yourself."

"But will you help me with that too, sir?"

"I'll try, Daniel. But I cannot promise you anything," the old wizard said. "Oh, and Daniel…"

"Yes, sir?"

"Professor Snape isn't gay. Appearances are deceptive, never forget that. And now, let's see today's task: imagining the forces of nature. Don't worry, I have made precautions that nothing of it will be seen, heard and felt outside this classroom. So, let's start with a nice little rainy weather, then we might carry on with a beautiful rainbow..." 

* * * * *

Although Dumbledore had made Daniel promise that he'd refrain from using his powers outside the Imaginer training session, he couldn't resist the temptation to use a bit of it at Transfiguration the next morning. The main reason was to make Kevin Weasley turn green with envy, because he didn't manage to accomplish the task of turning a mouse into a snuffbox while Daniel did it easily.

"That was a good one, mate," said Norbert. "How come you've become this good at Transfiguration all of a sudden?"

"Just a bit of practice and a great deal of persistence," young Potter replied. "You told me that I only had to practice and I'd succeed – you were right. I reckon that with a bit more exercising I could really be good enough to enter the tournament."

"I see," Norbert nodded with a peculiar expression – expression of disbelief? Or something else? Well, Daniel didn't care – all that counted for him was that he earned ten points for Slytherin with his amazing performance.

"The old McGonagall giving points to Slytherins?" young Malfoy whispered to his friends. "And not just Slytherins, but especially _you_? What got into her? I thought she hated you."

"Of course she doesn't hate Daniel!" Gilda said. "Professor McGonagall might have been a bit mad at you because of causing Gryffindor to lose those many points, but she isn't vindictive. She's quite fair, in my opinion. By the way, Dan, how did you do it?"

"What?"

"The snuff-box. No one else here managed. No offence, but I thought you'd be the last one to manage it."

"No offence taken," he grinned at the girl. 

"But how did you…?" she repeated, only to get interrupted by Minerva.

"Miss Lockhart, Mr. Potter! Twenty points from Slytherin for talking in my class."

"So… who's fair?" Dan whispered to Gilda.

So far McGonagall had been known for her strictness and fairness, and Snape had been known for his strictness and unfairness. Somehow it seemed to have changed to the opposite, as it was proved right at their next Potions class.

The first unusual thing was Snape entering the dungeon in deep green robes – for the second time in their lives, the students had seen him wearing a colour other than black. The next unusual thing was that Severus kept his head down all the way through the lesson, explaining the ingredients of the personality-changing potion to his shoes.

"What happened to him?" Donald Rookwood of Slytherin wondered.

"No idea," Jerry Travers shook his head.

"Oh, probably he woke up with a stiff neck and cannot straighten his back," Lavinia Flint suggested.

"It seems that not everyone has seen his wonderfully white teeth yet," Norbert grinned at Dan.

"Pity," Viviane Weasley pouted at the neighbouring table.

"Yeah," Valentine nodded, propping her chin into her palms, fixing the Professor with a dreamy stare. "If only he'd look up properly. I'd like to see those teeth again. So beautiful…"

"Is that why you outlined the Potions class in little hearts, Val?" Dan mocked, grabbing the girl's timetable.

"Give it back!" she hissed.

"No, I've got to have a look at it," Daniel said. "Hm… why haven't you outlined Lockhart's class as well? He still looks better than Snape."

"No, he doesn't!" Valentine retorted.

"Uh-oh… Val has a crush!"

"I do not!" the girl whispered through gritted teeth.

"Miss Weasley?" Snape finally looked up, enraged by the fact that the students weren't listening to his lecture. Up till now, no student had dared talk during his class. "I didn't let you talk. But if you like attention this much, then please, come up to the blackboard and complete the formula I started to write. Well, what are you waiting for?"

By this time, all the students in the dungeon were gaping at him with open mouths. As Valentine rose from her seat and headed for the blackboard, loud murmurs ran down the classroom:

_"Did you see that?"_

_"Impossible! That's not Snape but a clone for sure!"_

_"I'm sure he's using Wizard Fresh Whitening toothpaste!"_

_"He's so cute, isn't he? Flashy teeth and green robes… and he's washed his hair again!"_

"I don't understand… why would he want to hide those teeth? I'd be happy if mine looked like his!"

But Snape didn't seem to hear the murmurs – he also seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to be looking downwards to conceal his teeth. He passed Valentine a chalk and motioned her to write. "What are you waiting for? You have five minutes to finish the formula," he said the girl just stood there, gazing at him with misty eyes. "Get started or Gryffindor is going to lose many points because of you - _again_. I presume you would like to avoid it, Miss Weasley."

Reluctantly, Valentine turned towards the blackboard, hesitating what to write. She clearly had no idea.

*It's my fault. My bloody fault again!* Daniel thought bitterly. Had he not nicked the girl's timetable, she wouldn't have wanted to get it back and she wouldn't be in this embarrassing situation again – a situation that would very likely end with Gryffindor having another hundred points less. Suddenly, he clasped his forehead, then snatched up his _Magical Drafts and Potions_ book, and started flipping over its pages.

"What are you looking for?" Gilda whispered.

Dan, however, didn't reply, but kept searching. After two minutes (by that time, Valentine had turned rather white, her face in total contrast with the colour of the blackboard), he finally found the description of the personality-changing potion. Gilda's eyes kept bouncing between Valentine and Daniel, feeling sorry for the other girl and feeling confused about the boy's actions. What good could it do to Val – or anybody – if Dan found the description of the required potion? Her confusion grew by the second as she saw that Daniel's eyes fixed on the book's page for some seconds, then he closed them, as though concentrating hard on something. His eyebrows kept twitching and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Was he feeling all right at all? She glanced over Dan's shoulder at Norbert, who was also eyeing Daniel in a rather strange way. It wasn't confusion, wasn't surprise, wasn't even worry on his face. It was something else. Before Gilda could ask either friend of hers to explain what was going on, Valentine's hand set into motion, leading the chalk across the blackboard, writing the rest of the formula.

Snape's expression changed from angry to surprised, then from surprised to totally amazed.

"There," Val put the chalk on the Professor's table with a triumphant grin.

"Well…" the Potions Master seemed to not find words. "This… this is a very complicated formula, Miss Weasley. I never thought you'd be able to… Fifty points to Gryffindor."

The two classes present (both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins) gasped as one single entity.

_"Snape? Giving Gryffindor points? Let alone fifty?" _

_"I think he's gone mad."_

_"Yeah, mad, but… he's still dashing_."

"Would you explain what you were doing at Potions?" Gilda demanded as they walked down the corridor towards the Charms classroom.

"Me?" Dan gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Don't take me for a fool, will you?" she snapped. "You were doing something to your cousin. It looked like… I don't know… telepathy."

"Telepathy?" Dan laughed. "C'mon, Gil, how on Earth would I know how to communicate through telepathy? Wizards can do lots of things, but not that. Have you ever heard of a wizard sending a mental message to another?"

"No," she admitted.

"See? You must have seen too many Muggle movies, Gilda."

Miss Lockhart, however, couldn't be convinced. She decided to close the topic for a while, but somehow she didn't believe a word of Dan's. She wished she knew what Norbert thought of it. But Norbert also seemed reluctant to discuss telepathy – to Dan's great relief. He knew he had already done too much to wake his friends' suspicion, but he simply couldn't leave Valentine in the lurch… he simply couldn't let Gryffindor lose any more points because of him. He felt that his conscience wouldn't bear another wave of hate from the Gryffindors.   

"Fifty points to Gryffindor?!? You know what? I don't really hate Snape anymore," Viviane told her twin.

"Neither do I," Val smiled.

"Of course you don't, you're in love with him!" Lancelot interjected.

"Am not!" Val snapped.

"Are too!" Kevin smirked.

"Am not!"

"Are too!" Viv, Kevin and Lance shouted in unison.

"Who's in love with whom?" a voice spoke up behind them. They turned around to see Hermione smiling down at them, holding a huge stack of books.

"Er… no one, mum," Val cringed.

"Val has a crush on Professor Snape," Lancelot replied willingly, only to get a kick in the shin from the girl.

"Am not." 

"Then why did you outline his lesson in little hearts?" Kevin grinned.

"You have done WHAT?" Hermione gasped, dropping all her dozen books. "VALENTINE!"

"Come on, mum, you did the same with Lockhart!" Viviane said.

"Yes, I did, but at least he looked good. But… Snape?" Hermione's face was disgusted. 

"Don't worry, auntie," Kevin said, "if someone asks, you can peacefully say that Val's knack for perversion didn't come from you, but from Uncle Ron."

"Ron?" the Arithmancy professor winced. "He'd better never get to know this, or he'll commit suicide. Valentine, dear, I think we should have a nice, long talk."

* * * * *

However strange it might sound, Professor Snape was being less nasty to the students than he used to be. No one understood it, perhaps save for Daniel – given that he was the only student who knew about Severus' feelings for the caretaker. It was possible that love really changed people… it had to be that way or Snape wouldn't have changed this much, would he?

How exactly did Dumbledore formulate it? – Dan thought. _'Professor Snape isn't gay. Appearances are deceptive, never forget that_.' What could it mean? Daniel tried and tried to find the meaning behind those cryptic words, but the brainwave refused to come until the end of March. Then, one day, as he and his best friends left the Quidditch pitch after a training session (Slytherin would be playing against Hufflepuff in a week), they met the caretaker, who looked as white as a sheet.

"Mr. Bradley, are you all right?" asked Gilda.

"Not exactly, Miss Lockhart," came the answer as Bradley leant to the wall, clearly feeling dizzy.

"Maybe you should go up into the hospital wing," Daniel suggested.

"No… What I need now is…" with hands pressed over her mouth the caretaker hurried into the nearby toilet.

"He doesn't look doo well, does he?" Norbert said, blowing his nose. Since it had been raining for about a week now and they had had training sessions regardless of the weather, he had developed a nice little head cold. Many people in the castle – Professor McGonagall included - were suffering from similar symptoms, even without having to train in the rain. 

"Have you noticed? He went into the girl's bathroom," Gilda pointed out, clearly finding it rather amusing. 

"Crazy that ban, don't you think, Dan?" Norbert said in a nasal voice.

But Daniel didn't answer. He was gaping at the door of the girl's bathroom, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey, anybody hobe?" Norbert waved his hand in front of Dan's eyes.

"Huh?" the boy shuddered.

"What got into you? You looked like sobeone who had seen a debentor," Norbert said between two sneezes.

"No. No dementor," Dan shook his head. "Poor Snape."

"What? What does he have to do with Bradley?" Gilda frowned.

"Er… nothing," young Potter waved, feeling extremely proud that he had finally managed to understand how Snape could love the caretaker without being gay. The caretaker was a woman. But… wait a minute! When does a woman faint? When does a woman feel sick? "Holy snitch!" Dan breathed.

"WHAT?" the other two started to get impatient.

"I cannot tell you. Sorry guys, I cannot."

"Friends don't keep secrets from each other," Gilda pointed out.

*If she only knew how many secrets I keep from her and Norb!* Dan thought. "Listen, I... promised Dumbledore not to tell…"

"You know that we're no gossips, Dan," Norbert winked at him. "You can trust us."

"Oookay," the other boy sighed, then pulled the map out of his robe pocket. "No one around," he declared contentedly. The only person near was the caretaker, whose little dot seemed to be crouching next to a toilet.

"Why all this precaution?" his friend raised an eyebrow.

"Because what I'm going to tell you is top secret," Dan whispered, his voice muffled even more by Bradley's retching behind the door. "Snape is… in love with the caretaker."

"Whad?" young Malfoy gasped. "Shit, he's gay!"

"No, he isn't! And sssh!" Dan pressed his index finger to his lips. "Look at this," he showed the map to his friends.

Gilda's eyes popped, seeing the little dot's name. "He's a she! She's called Beryl!"

"Yup."

"You knew this? You knew this all along? Dumbledore told you?"

"Not exactly," Dan shook his head. "Once I overheard Snape and Bradley quarrelling. Bradley was accusing Snape of having used some potion by mistake – a potion that made them crazy for each other… they ended up in bed. It was back in January. And Snape seems to be in love with him… er, _her_, ever since. It's no more the effect of the potion – it's real."

The retching stopped, the kids heard the sound of a toilet being flushed, and Dan hastily hid the map.

"Feeling better, Bister Bradley?" Norbert asked when Beryl exited with a sweaty face.

"A bit. Thank you," replied the caretaker and walked away.

Gilda stared after her, her mouth agape.

"I see you understand everything," said Dan.

"I do," the girl nodded. "I just can't believe it! It seems that Snape's whole life is going to change soon, not only his teeth."

"What do you bean?" Norbert frowned.

"He's going to be a father."

* * * * *

The rainy March turned into sunny April. While Norbert healed out of his cold quite quickly (maybe Slytherin's victory over Hufflepuff helped him heal), Professor McGonagall's symptoms didn't seem to want to cease at all. She was no more sneezing or blowing her nose – she was rather sick and her head hurt all the time. Her condition worsened so much that she needed to pay Madame Pomfrey a visit.

"I hope Minerva is feeling better," Albus told his brother as they walked out of the staff room.

"Well, she is feeling a bit better… but she'll continue having this sickness for a while, I fear," Aberforth said with a dramatic sigh.

"Why? Cannot Poppy just cure her with some Pepperup Potion?" Albus asked, taking a sip of hot chocolate.

"I fear Pepperup Potion cannot do anything against morning sicknesses," Aberforth replied, looking devastated.

"What?" the headmaster spat out the mouthful of hot chocolate he was just about to swallow. "Arrrgh, my beautiful beard!" he cursed, trying to wipe the warm brown goo off it. In his surprise, he even forgot that he could have performed a simple cleaning charm. "Minerva… pregnant???" he breathed.

"Well… yeah," Aberforth seemed to be thoroughly embarrassed. 

"But… at her age?"

"Do you remember the Bible Sarah who gave birth at the age of ninety? My sweet Minnie is barely two years older than Sarah was," came the answer in a rather wavering tone. "But I'm soooo concerned, Albus… what will everyone say? And… I'm not sure about these family relations - if that baby's born, who will be Julie to him? His great-niece? Or great-aunt? I'm hopelessly confused!"    

"Somehow I can understand that… daddy," Albus gave his brother a quizzical look. "Heh, that will be some event!"

"Don't even remind me! I'm already dreading everyone's reactions," Aberforth said timidly.

* * * * *

McGonagall was walking upstairs from the library, carrying several huge books to prepare for the lecture she'd give the seventh year Ravenclaws on Monday.

"Ah, Minerva, already out of the infirmary?" the headmaster joined her with a jovial smile.

"Yes, Albus. Why, should I have wasted my whole day there?" she replied indignantly. "I've got to prepare for tomorrow."

"I… I think you should have stayed a bit longer in the hospital wing, Minerva, just to make sure that you're okay. And why on Earth are you carrying such heavy books? You shouldn't!"

Albus reached out and took the pile of tomes out of the witch's arms. "I'll carry them for you."

Minerva shrugged. "If you think so. Would you please take them up to my study and place them on my desk? I still have to go and discuss the plan of work with the Prefects for the next week and for the duration of the Easter holidays as well. Oh, and of course I've got to arrange a staff-conference about the tournament…"

"No, no, no, dear Minerva, I insist that you leave these things to another time and have some rest. Go up into your room and lie down a bit."

"But, Albus, these things have to be done! And who else would do them? It's always been my task to arrange things like these! What would become of Hogwarts if I started neglecting my duties?"

"I'm not concerned about Hogwarts, Minerva, but I'm concerned about you. Your health. You have to rest a lot, in your condition."

McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Madame Pomfrey said I could continue working without any problem. And that I will do."

"But… Minerva! How can you be so selfish?" Dumbledore looked scandalised.

"Selfish? Albus!" she hissed, ripping the books out of the wizard's hands. "I'm having the school's best interests at heart, and you call me selfish!"

"Yes, because you don't care for that child at all!"

"Which child?" she blinked.

Albus blinked, too. "Wow… twins?"

"What?" she knitted her eyebrows, fearing that the headmaster had gone mad.

"Your child, Minerva!"

"You mean, Julie? She's like a granddaughter to me, Albus, and I have no idea why you think that I don't care for her…"

"I'm not talking about Julie, I'm talking about the baby you are carrying!"

McGonagall dropped the books. "What… what are you talking about?"  

Suddenly Peeves appeared through a wall, wearing a pink-orange striped jester's hat, howling at the top of his lungs: "Happy April Fool's Day to everyone!"

For a couple of seconds nothing happened, only Albus' head was beginning to turn reddish-purple. In the next instant:

"ABERFORTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * * * *

"Oh, good afternoon, Aberforth!" Gilderoy Lockhart waved at the wizard approaching. "My gosh! What happened to you?" he pointed at the other man's face. 

"Er… I happened to run into the door-handle," Dumbledore grunted. 

"With both your eyes at once?" Gilderoy frowned at Aberforth's two huge black eyes. "You poor one. I have a very efficacious cream for cases like this. You just rub it around your eyes and they'll be back to normal by tomorrow morning. I'm using it daily to make the shadows under my eyes disappear if I didn't have enough time to sleep. You know that I cannot appear in front of my students looking like that, now, can I?"

"You really don't care for anything else but your looks, do you, Gilderoy? You really care for no one else but yourself!" Aberforth snapped. His mood was clearly very low for some reason.

"But of course I do! There are lots of other people I care for… for example… my wife. My daughter. My tailor. My hairdresser… I'm hurt by the insinuation that I'm selfish! If someone's selfish, then it's Severus. He's been refusing to tell me the secret of his miraculous tooth-whitening method for weeks!"

But Aberforth wasn't listening to Lockhart anymore. His attention was engaged by a seagull tapping at a window of the corridor. "A seagull? Here?" he muttered and walked up to the window to open it.

"Not seagull, but Snape!" Gilderoy said, looking around, searching for his one-person audience. That was when he saw that Aberforth had stepped to the window and let a bird in. "This is really a seagull!" Gilderoy declared. "What does a seagull want here?"

"No idea," the older wizard shrugged and watched as the bird soared into the corridor and disappeared out of sight. 

"So, where was I?" Lockhart asked. "Oh, yeah, Severus. So, I'm telling you, Aberforth, this man is simply greedy. He wants all the good for himself. That is why he keeps this new beauty-recipe a secret, but I swear I'm going to get it out of him…"

Aberforth had no idea how long he had been listening to Gilderoy's raving when his brother Albus rushed up to him with furiously glinting eyes.

Aberforth cringed from his very sight.

"Have you sent me this, Aberforth?" the headmaster demanded, flourishing a letter in front of his brother's eyes.

"No," the younger Dumbledore shook his head.

Albus gave him a suspicious look. "This letter has been brought by a seagull. It came… or _supposedly_ came from my old friend, Aaron."

"Aaron? From Azgard?"

"Yes, him," Albus nodded. "You know that I've been keeping in touch with him ever since I got to know him at your wedding. He wrote me this letter to visit him at Azgard urgently. But… for some reason I don't really trust a letter that arrived on the first of April. It could as well have come from you, given that you belong to those very few people who know about my correspondence with Aaron."

"It wasn't me, Albus, I swear!" Aberforth said. "I don't even know where to get a seagull! Perhaps it was from Minerva. She also knows about your correspondence with Aaron."

"Brother… I know Minerva. And she's not the type to trick me on April Fool's Day."

"No, really not," Aberforth sighed, massaging his left eye. "She's the type to give me a second black-eye after you have already given me one."

"Exactly. She is that type," the headmaster nodded. "But… if it wasn't you… then it is possible that our Aaron just doesn't know the calendar and really sent me a letter… well, one way to find out. I'm going to Azgard."

"Right today?"

"Yes. Tell Minerva to take care of the school as long as I'm away, Aberforth."   

The younger Dumbledore brother cringed again. "I fear it won't be easy. Minnie isn't talking to me at all. Anyway, she wouldn't believe me if I told her that you left."

"Wonder why?" Albus' blue eyes glinted impishly. "Well, Gilderoy, then you tell Professor McGonagall that I had to leave urgently."

"Certainly, headmaster," Lockhart beamed. "I'm happy to be of service." 

* * * * *

Albus arrived at Azgard after sunset. The castle of Azgard was built on the North Cape, on a cliff by the Barents Sea. Although it was April, the weather up here was still very cold – in fact the column of mercury in the thermometers never climbed higher than ten Celsius degrees, not even in summer. Although the whole castle was made of ice, it was pleasantly warm inside.

"Albus, my friend, what an honour that you have accepted my invitation!" Aaron greeted the Hogwarts headmaster, who made a mental note to apologise to Aberforth for having insinuated him. The invitation had been real, then.

"I have come as soon as I received your letter," Albus replied. "You wrote that you had something to discuss with me – something that couldn't be discussed in mail, and that it was urgent."

"Yes, my friend, I'm afraid…" Aaron nodded, steering the old wizard into the living room. Certainly, Aaron was much older than Dumbledore, but looked considerably younger, given that he had spent 1104 years in the captivity of ice and got melted out by Draco Malfoy and the champions of the triwizard tournament twelve years earlier. He still looked around 45 years old. "Have a seat, please."

Albus took place in a comfy ice-armchair that felt unusually warm and soft for something made of ice. "All right, now tell me, Aaron, what is troubling you? Because I see that something it amiss."

"True, Albus. Something is seriously amiss," the Viking wizard nodded. "You have written me about all those sinister things that happened over the last few months, and you wrote that you had no idea who was behind it all. Now I might be able to tell you who it is. I'm not sure, but…"

"Get to the point, please."

"All right," Aaron sighed. "See, Albus, my wife Desideria and I made a decision months ago – we thought that this castle was way too big and empty… way too big for her, me and our son. We're just a small family, and don't need this many rooms. So we decided to turn the greatest part of the castle into a wizarding museum - a museum showing ancient Viking wizarding equipment and stuff like that… people might be interested," Albus nodded his agreement, and Aaron carried on. "So, we have employed a bunch of architect wizards to do the work. They started at the parks around the castle. We told them that we wanted some never freezing fountains around the building… you know, just to serve as a spectacle. If you look out the window, you'll see that the ground has been dug up at several places. The thing is that… there was a rock in the garden just where we wanted to place the biggest fountain. The rock… that Lucius Malfoy or whatever his name is had placed over Tatyana's tomb. I trust you know Tatyana's story?"

"Of course I do," Dumbledore nodded. "Harry told me the whole story from Natasha and Anor to Tatyana taking his powers. I know everything."

"Good. So… I never liked Natasha, or Tatyana, call her whatever you want… I hated her, all right, but she was almost my sister-in-law… So, I thought that it wouldn't be fair just to er… chuck out her bones because of that fountain. Desideria and I decided to have her bones dug up and replaced into another part of the garden."

Albus nodded calmly, but his expression already revealed that he had a good idea what he was going to hear.

"So…" Aaron continued, "we had the tomb opened… and it was empty."

**A/N2: **I'm getting eviler and eviler by the second, right? ;)

_No Longer a Lone Wolf_: well, now you've seen what's in the chamber. Glad you like the Dan/Gilda pairing.

_Altec:_ Lily as the enemy? Another interesting guess :)

_seashell_: don't worry, there'll be a good evil guy ;) Black light? I simply can't imagine light that is dark. Those two are just antonyms, aren't they? Where have you seen black light?

_gothicbutterfly_: thank you very much for taking your time for a change and writing a review. It means a lot to me, especially at times when people are telling me their low opinion of TGSiHH… your review – and all positive reviews – made me feel a little better. Thanks once more.

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: funny that for you Dan/Gilda is so strange… all the others have been anxiously waiting when they'll get together… About Snape and dashing… LOL. I agree, they are antonyms, but they make things funny.

_Katie Bell_: *hugs you for reviewing my arts* I have two new on ArtisticAlley, perhaps you've seen them, I don't know. They are in the Harry and the 'Everyone Else' section. Glad you liked the D/G parts, LOL, it's so weird that Draco/Ginny, Draco/Gabrielle and even Daniel/Gilda are D/Gs.

_Houou:_ Snape won't faint when he finds out about becoming a father, but he'll be pretty shocked.

_Princess Ginny:_ yes, Dan and Gilda will be a couple. I'm still at school, and I'm doing okay :)

_Alexander Phoenix_: I'm glad you thought so :D

_Romina:_ glad you like the Devil's Deal, webba's a cool author :) Hehe… yeah I found it funny too, when I decided to put clupea into this fic as well… and it's even funnier that many people actually remembered it from TGSiHH…

_Bucky_: yes, Dan is a bit dense :) I'll continue torturing Snape for a while, but he'll be happy at the end, don't worry. Can't give you a hint at the enemy, but I'm giving you a list of who have been accused by readers so far (in alphabetical order): Aberforth, Angel (the baby-unicorn!), Bradley, Cho, Daniel, Draco, Gilderoy, Harry himself, Kevin, Lily, Madame Rosmerta, Norbert, Peter Pettigrew, Petunia, Philippe (Bradley's ex), Remus, Rudolph (the reindeer), Salazar Slytherin, Sirius, Snape, Trelawney, Vicar Diggle, Voldemort. I wonder who else will be accused in the future… well, Tatyana for sure, LOL.

_Lavendar Brown_: I hope you are feeling better :) Yes, in certain cases it is normal to want to go to school… but only in exceptional cases ;)

_C-chan_: I haven't seen or read the Princess Bride, though I have heard it was cool. When it comes to the cinemas, I'll surely watch it. Yes, I also hope that the ferret thingie will be in the GoF movie. No Sean? That's bad! And have you heard that there'll be no Quidditch in the PoA movie at all? A HP movie without Quidditch is like a Star Wars movie without lightsabers!

_2Coolio_: I haven't seen the Disney movie in which Beryl was an evil queen, which one was that? No, the reason for choosing the name Beryl was that it was something whose chemical formula I managed to find in a book… The thing about Beryl getting to know about the wizarding world… Neville is her BROTHER-IN-LAW! Her sister Mary-Sue married a wizard. And her brother played in the same Quidditch team as Neville (I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but I mention it somewhere in the story). So, with a wizard brother and a wizard brother-in-law, Beryl couldn't be ignorant of the wizarding world. About Chemistry: she is a Chemistry teacher in a Muggle school, Muggles study Chemistry, don't they?

_Hermione We@s!ey:_ you wrote: "_you said this story was going to be much darker… how much can happen in 11 chapters?"_ Well, I maintain what I said: it will get very dark soon. Perhaps the ending of this chapter was dark enough already??? But it'll get much darker in chapter 27. In fact I was a bit scared by the darkness of chapters 28-29 when I wrote them… and don't worry, a LOT OF THINGS will happen in 11 chapters, more than you could possibly imagine :D

_Beauty in Disguise_: I'm glad you like Draco in this fic :) Hehe… I had so much fun writing the bush-fight. Welcome in the Cho-hater club! Glad you like Norbert! A new car behind the door? Big LOL :D 

_Katrina:_ glad you liked the poem :D Aberforth? Hmmm… About Durmstrang being in Bulgaria or not… that's something we don't know. Rowling never said where it was, but Hermione said in GoF that it was very far in the north, so I supposed it was rather Russia than Bulgaria since Bulgaria is rather in Southern-Europe. (sorry to ask stupid questions, but are you the same Katrina who wrote a review for chapter 20 before reading it? I don't want to confuse anyone for someone else).

_SiriDragon:_ thanks! Is Harry the heir of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in your fic, too?

_sabby_: no, I'm not cruel to my dad. Truth is I never told him how I felt. I never felt close enough to him to tell him what I thought :( Probably he has no idea that I've ever missed him. Dan will officially start dating Gilda in chapter 30.

_Toby Haine:_ glad you liked Snape's teeth :D Btw, I don't know whether you've read my comment to your review for 'Harry in drag' on GTnet, but I told you that I wasn't insane. The idea for that pic came from a fic of Jenna Mae. Read her fic called Miss Hogwarts, it's very funny and you'll finally understand that art of mine ;)

_PhoenixFire_: I'm not surprised that you like the Snape part of this fic better than the Potter part… my mum's fave parts were the Snape parts. No, no Pandora's box. 

_Indigo Ziona_: I have seen three different versions of The count of Monte Cristo movie, but not the one with Richard Harris :( The other three were cr*p, if you ask me, I don't know whether this one was any good. Did Richard Harris play the old Faria?

_Colibi:_ Gilda was described in chapter 3, as far as I remember. She is very lean, looking a lot like a boy, with short brown hair and blue eyes, and no tits (yet, anyway). 

_heavenly182angel:_ well, we in Hungary call the Big Dipper "Göncölszekér", so it has a totally different name, but I knew its English name as well. About H and G not being able to take their hands off each other… as I mentioned in chapter 18 (the Valentine's chapter) they hadn't slept together since before Ginny had lost the baby. So, after two months of abstinence, they just had to do it, LOL.

_starheart20_: thanks, it is nice to see that most people understand how I felt.

_Punky Poet_: I like the Snape stuff, too ;)

_Chrissi_: I'm sad to hear that you relationship to your dad isn't rosy either. 

_Lupin's Angel_: I don't know where the '_Promise me not to scream and I'll release you'_ line comes from. I think I have seen loads of movies with such lines in them. I tried to look at the site you mentioned, but it always said that it was under maintenance.

_AmandaPanda_: neither :)

_apple-pie_: hehe… my mum was also rotfl when reading the cheese part.

_Mistri:_ thanks :)

_jasper:_ yes, Draco and Gabie will consummate their marriage. Just not yet.

_Muggle:_ I'm not a wimp, I just didn't think Snape was the type to fall for a guy, that's all.

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: Davie has already found a girl in chapter 18: Circe Diggory (read back the Dave/Viv/Val scene in chapter 18, it ends with Davie giving his bouquet to Circe.) You'll see Dave and Circe together again, later.

_Squalldaman_: glad you think it rocks again :D

_Tap Dancing Widow_: I like Kenneth Branagh a lot, too :) Yes, Fred and George will be back for the Quidditch match in chapter 25, but you'll already see them in chapter 23.

_Myr Halcyon_: thank you, I'm glad you thought that the Lily/Harry scene was well-written. I have no gay friends, so I don't really know how that goes. But strangely there is a gay guy and a lesbian girl in a reality show I watch once in a while. I found it a bit odd that they both got in… the gay guy is really nice and funny, but the lesbian girl goes on my nerves, especially since she seduced another girl in the reality show house. The family of the seduced girl freaked out, since the girl had had a dentist fiancé outside the house, and of course the fiancé broke up with her. Yes, I also realised that Gilda was a bit like Hermione, but every class needs a bookworm :) And well, I'm quite a bookworm myself, so couldn't help making her act like that. I hope it was nice in Mexico.

_tyleet:_ Gillian is a really nice name :)

_Wood's secret lover_: glad you found it funny :)

_ruffled owl: _yes, I like Gabrielle, too. I think she's perfect for Draco, strange that there are almost no Gabie/Draco fics out there (I have read only one besides my own).

_Inken:_ Dan doesn't know about Norbert and Lily yet. There won't be more poems from Dan, sorry. But I have written one more poem for the story, when we reach that chapter, I'll tell you WHERE I wrote that poem, you'll be surprised, I don't think that people write poems at places like that. Glad you liked the Snape's teeth thing, and I'm even happier to hear that you didn't find Snape ooc :)

_Nefertiri_: no, I haven't heard about the kidnapped girl, but I'm happy that she was found. In many cases kidnapped people never turn up, or only their skeletons years later :( The same happened to an 8-year-old girl here in Hungary. She was kidnapped about four years ago and her skeleton got found last year. Her poor parents had been hoping to find her, and then they got to know that she was dead… so terrible.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: yes, hopefully it does :)

_SparkleCharm_: no, Lily's period won't have an impact on the future of this story. No, none of the Potter kids is a Parseltongue. Why did H and G leave their window open? Hm… it must have been a very warm night and they needed some fresh air from the garden, LOL.

_candycaneOgram:_ the contest will be in chapter 24. The chamber doesn't have anything to do with the contest, nor does it fulfil any kind of prophecy. What is so evil that will happen? Well, most of the evil has already happened, but you poor readers are unaware yet, LOL. Wait till chapter 27-28 and you'll find out.

_phoenix_kiss02_: I can send you a copy of this for your birthday, but you can read it already, so perhaps it's unnecessary? Well, in case you don't review till Friday, you'll get a mail :) Soon Draco and Gabie's relationship will get 'warmer'.

_Inigma_: it isn't that strange that a 50-year old person would read HP stuff. Last summer I was sitting on the tram, reading PoA and a 70-something-year old lady opposite me kept giving me funny glances all along. I had no idea what her problem was, but when we reached the end station and got off the tram, she said: "you were reading the 'Voldemort's servant' chapter, right? I saw its title… Voldemort's servant is Peter Pettigrew, isn't he? I just love the Potter books…' and we started to talk about HP. It was funny, really, discussing HP with someone who could be my granny :D

_VegaKeep_: I agree :)

_Lady Schezar_: in the next chapter you'll see what happens to Dobby and Dinky :) Okay, just carry on practicing Cho-deflecting hexes! :D

_Lana Riddle_: yup, evil as always. This cliffie was even eviler, wasn't it?

_Jennifer W_: Beryl's hubby did all kinds of nasty things, I'll mention it in one chapter, just can't remember which one. But he's no murderer. I don't know whether I'll write long fics again. I think I will, but only after I've read OotP, since I'm sure I'll get totally new ideas about the new characters and scenes introduced in OotP (I'm pretty sure we'll see giants, perhaps even the home of the giants and it'll provide cool new opportunities to write novel-length fics). We'll also get to know from OotP why Voldie was after Harry, so I could base a new fic on that information. Until June I'll be writing my goat story (three chaptered and almost ready) and I'm thinking of another few-chaptered fic about Nearly Headless Nick (how he got nearly headless), but I'm not sure whether I'll write that or not.

_Red Ridding Hood_: I'm happy you still managed to submit a review :) Yes, I heard that there'd be not Sean and no Quidditch in the PoA movie and I'm upset about it. I'm glad you think I'm full of surprises, LOL.


	22. The day of surprises

**A/N: **last week I drew a pic of our three heroes: Dan, Gilda and Norbert. I've sent it to some people, if you're interested, then tell me, I'll send it to you too :)

Have you seen the cover of the OotP book? I think both the British and the American version suck. The British version has nothing else but a phoenix and some flames on it, not one single wizard. So it tells us absolutely nothing. The American version doesn't tell much either, and it's extremely dark: the whole cover is navy blue, even Harry has a bluish hue and he looks about 30 years old! As though he had aged 15 years during the summer. Eerie, I'm telling you. He's sitting among some candles, holding a wand and some doors are to be seen in the background. That's all. Allegedly Marie Grand Pré (the artist who drew all the American covers) has already read the book and drew the cover based on the impressions she got from it. I think it means that the book will be very, very, very dark! *shudders*

This chapter is dedicated to Lioness-07863, because she wrote the 1500th review for this fic.

**Chapter 22**

**The day of surprises**

Draco Malfoy was sitting in a cosy armchair in the manager's office of his bank, perusing a report made by his employees. He could be really satisfied – the report showed that the bank was absolutely profitable and the Malfoy family was getting richer and richer by the second. The bank not only managed to entice more than the half of Gringotts' clientele, but had also built connections with several foreign wizarding banks, managing to offer them better interest rates for loans and credits than Gringotts that was struggling with a serious financial crisis.

So, all in all, Draco could have been a satisfied and happy man. Still, he wasn't. His fears of potential goblin attacks hadn't ceased, although no goblins had been seen around his bank since January. He had made precautions in case the goblins changed their minds about the apparent friendliness policy they were exercising towards _Malfoy & Malfoy_. He had cast several fire and explosion preventing charms on both his bank and home, and even at Gabrielle's house (though Gabrielle didn't find it necessary, given that the goblins had no idea about their secret marriage and there were no documents about it, either.)

Draco's thoughts drifted away from the report he was holding, to the little florist's shop round the corner. What could Gabie be doing right now? Was she thinking of him at all? He hoped she was, because he was thinking of her all the time. "Damn," he breathed and slapped the roll of parchment onto his desk. *I'm sure she doesn't even think of me.* he fumed. *Fleur's returned and Gabie must be having fun chatting with her sister. I'm sure she hasn't yet given me a thought today.* Come to think of it, it was quite possible that young Miss Delacour – correction, young Mrs Malfoy – hadn't thought of her husband that day too much, given that it was just eight o'clock in the morning. Probably she hadn't even woken up.

Draco cursed himself for not being able to keep his mind off her. Ever since they got married – that was exactly three months ago – he had felt he'd go crazy if he couldn't touch her… yet he couldn't touch her. She kept repeating that she only married him to help him out in need, but their marriage would end next January, without them ever having slept together.

The young wizard rubbed his eyes – he hadn't got too much sleep last night – if truth be told he hadn't got much sleep for months. And the reason was Gabrielle. Gabrielle, Gabrielle, Gabrielle... always Gabrielle! He irritably slapped the table and conjured himself a coffee – he badly needed something to keep him awake after those troubled dreams he had had. Oh, those dreams… he grabbed the report again, trying to get his mind off a certain part-veela and sink into the wonderful world of figures, but instead of the figures of credits and liabilities he only saw the figure of Miss Delacour. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate hard on the image of professor Snape in Neville's grandma's outfit, but Snape's image got again and again replaced by the gently swaying image of a dancing Gabrielle. She had appeared like that in his dreams – dancing, laughing and beckoning to him, then slowly starting to strip… "More coffee," Draco muttered, conjuring another cup of dark liquid, and whispered _Deminuo_, too. It was ridiculous, he thought, that he had started to need to use this charm again. It was long ago when he was a teenage boy with wet dreams and embarrassing awakenings, but those dreams had returned along with the terrible need for fulfilment… damn that veela, she refused to satisfy that need!

Draco started sipping his second coffee, unleashing his imagination. 

_"Hey, Draco, catch me!"_ Gabrielle squealed and flung herself onto his neck, sticking her lips to his.

"Mmmm… that feels good…" he mumbled.

"What?" came a very ungabriellish voice.

Draco opened his eyes to see Albus Dumbledore peering down at him.

"Er… sorry. I must have fallen asleep," young Malfoy apologised with a flushed expression. Dumbledore found it rather amusing, since he hadn't seen Draco turning pink while he had been at Hogwarts. He had always been so deadly pale.

"No, problem, Mr Malfoy, everyone needs a bit of a lie-in," the headmaster smiled. "May I sit down?"

"Oh, of course," Draco pointed at a chair facing his desk. "I'm being so impolite. Sorry, sir. I suppose I'm a bit…"

"Tired?"

"Exactly," the young bank-manager nodded. "So, professor, what can _Malfoy & Malfoy_ do for you? We have special offers – if you open an account within a month, you'll get credit with very favourable interest rates."

"No, thank you, Draco, it's not _Malfoy & Malfoy_ I need, but your help… um, I hope you don't mind if I call you Draco, do you?"

"Well, of course, not, sir. So, what can I help you with?"

"I'd like to ask you about your father."

"What do you want to know about him?"

"I'd like to know where he is at the moment."

Draco shrugged. "Somewhere on a Ministry of Magic mission, as far as I know. Why?"

"I have to talk to him. At all costs," replied Dumbledore.

"You scare me, professor. Why is it so important for you to talk to my father? Has he done something… illegal?"

"No… at least I hope not. But he might know the answers for my questions."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I really have no idea where he is at the moment. I haven't been in touch with him ever since he left the country."

"I see. Then perhaps _you _could help me."

"Me?"

"Yes. You might know something."

"About what?" frowned the bank-manager.

"About Tatyana Fiodrovna."

"Tatyana? You mean that crazy Russian chick who stripped Potter of his powers?"

"Yes, her."

"Well, of course I know about her – she died. Got buried at Azgard."

"No, she didn't."

"Didn't what? Didn't die or didn't get buried?" Malfoy blinked. "I don't understand. Father told me that he personally buried her in Azgard's garden."

"At least that's what he told you," Albus assessed. "But it seems that he had lied."   

"What do you mean?" Draco frowned.

"I happened to visit our friend, Aaron, at Azgard. He told me that he and his wife were planning to turn the castle into a museum and they wanted some fountains into the garden, so they got it dug up. A rock, signalling the resting place of Tatyana Fiodrovna, happened to be in the way of the architect wizards. So they opened the tomb to relocate her bones, and they found no skeleton. Not even the remains of a coffin. Nothing at all."

"You mean… she didn't die?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "But… Aaron had told us that she had been lethally injured by a sword… she must have died."

"Oh, yes, everyone thinks so," the headmaster responded. "But no one – not even Aaron - had seen her dead. Your father was the last one to see her before 'getting buried'. He told everyone that he had buried her in the garden, but he could as well have lied. I'm sorry to say this, but it is very possible that your father had lied and Miss Fiodrovna is still alive, given that I don't think Lucius would have taken her dead body with him – what would he have used it for?" 

"But what would he have used a living Tatyana for?" Draco countered.

"Good point. I have no idea," shrugged Albus. "Perhaps Miss Fiodrovna got a bit better and pleaded with your father to let her live and escape."

"Not much of a chance. Father isn't exactly the charitable type. I mean… he has given lots of money to St. Mungo and several orphanages, but… he did it to appear as an honourable gentleman. I can't see why he'd help a woman who couldn't give him anything in return. But… he might have buried her together with her wand, believing her to be dead. Then the chick woke up in the middle of the night, realised that she was in a coffin four feet under the surface, so she just magicked herself out."

"As I have told you, there was no coffin found in the tomb," Dumbledore reminded him.

"Then… I don't know. Maybe she climbed out of the tomb and destroyed the coffin," Draco shuddered slightly. "I think I have read too many horror stories in my childhood. Or… when exactly did Aaron tell you this?"

"Yesterday. Why?"

"It was April Fool's Day yesterday, headmaster."

"I know. And I happened to ask Aaron whether it was just a joke, and he told me that he had no idea that there _was _an April Fool's Day at all. I suspect that this custom of tricking each other on 1st April only came into fashion _after_ Aaron had been frozen. So, I'd like to find Tatyana if she's really alive, because I have a reason to believe that it could be her who's been doing all this stuff to poor Harry."

"What stuff?" Draco knitted his blonde eyebrows.

"Well, making him drink a potion that made him fall out with Professor Lupin. They haven't reconciled ever since Halloween. Then… the fire."

"The fire?" Draco breathed. "What are you talking about? That attack was directed at me! The goblins were mad and…"

The old wizard waved to shut up the younger one. "You are wrong, young Malfoy. The journalists wrote that the goblins had mistaken Harry's house for yours. But the journalists aren't known for their objectiveness, are they? Things got hushed up. The truth is that the Potter house was the real target, but whoever did it, they wanted it to look like as though the goblins had done it. The resemblance between your house and Harry's only helped them."

"Now wait a minute!" Malfoy cut in. "You mean that my life, my bank and my house haven't been in danger at all? That I have made all the precautions in vain? That I have been living in fear for three months in vain?" at the end he was practically shouting.

"Calm down, Draco, will you?" Albus held up his hand to hush him. "Calm down and listen to me. It was Mad Eye's idea to show the whole case as though you had been the target. And I agreed with him. I'm sorry that we have left you in uncertainty for months, but we didn't want to tell anyone the truth. Especially not Harry. I ask you to remain silent about this."

"All right," the bank-manager nodded. "I won't tell anyone," in thought he added: *Especially not Gabrielle. If she gets to know that I'm not in danger, she'll become only more resolute that there's no need for us to stay together.* "But... professor… do you think that if Tatyana Fiodrova is alive, then she's the one who set Potter's house on fire? I mean... why would she? Potter never hurt her, did he?"

"Oh, not directly," Dumbledore shook his head. "But as we know, Miss Fiodrovna was a bit… crazy. We don't know what her addled mind could make her think of Harry Potter who had not only got young again, but also got his powers back, while her lover had died and her plan hadn't succeeded. Of course I'm not sure that there _is_ a connection between the tragedy-series in the Potter family and Tatyana's missing body, but we cannot rule out the possibility."

"Hell, I wouldn't be in Potter's place," Draco said. "I never liked him, but… now I feel sorry for him. It cannot be a pleasant feeling to have a mad zombie following you around… Oh, just a question, sir. If it is Tatyana who's doing all this, then why… why did Professor Snape also get attacked? That woman never knew Snape, did she?"

"No, she definitely didn't," Albus replied. "The two cases might be separate… but they might be connected. I don't know. All I know is that I'd like to ask you about your father. Did he… behave strangely after you came home from Azgard?"

"Strangely?" Draco pondered. "Just as strangely as ever. I don't think I could tell you anything about that, professor. I didn't notice anything strange after the Azgard adventure. And even if he did behave strangely, I wasn't there to know – you know that I had moved to Devilsmoor Manor after graduation and I barely visited my parents at home. I'm sorry. I wish I could help."

"I think you _could_ help."

"How?"

"We know that Lucius is out of reach at the moment, but his elves surely aren't. You know that the elves always know what is going on in a house. You could go and question the elves about Lucius' actions after he returned from Azgard. I'm sure that the elves won't refuse to reply to you – you're also a Malfoy."

"All right, I'll try," Draco said. "I'll go to Malfoy Manor as soon as I have a bit of time, I promise."

"Thank you, Draco. That would be a great help."

* * * * *

As Albus was walking back from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, two squealing voices caught his ear:

"Professor Dumbledore, sir!"

He turned around to see Dobby and Dinky standing at the gate of the Potter house.

"Ah, good morning to you both," the headmaster greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning to you, too, professor, sir!" beamed Dobby and Dinky nodded her agreement. "Could Dobby talk to you, sir?"

"Well, of course. What would you like to talk to me about?"

"Er…" the male house-elf turned slightly pink (Dinky was already ruby-red). "Dobby does not know whether Professor Dumbledore knows, but Dobby is in love with Harry Potter's elf, Dinky."

"I know that, Dobby," Albus smiled. "But… I thought that you were no more in Harry's employment, Dinky."

"Dinky wasn't, for a while, professor," the female elf said. "But he took Dinky back. Harry Potter is not vindictive, sir. He is very generous and kind-hearted. Dinky pleaded with him and Harry Potter let Dinky come back."

"Yes, professor, and I love her," the house-elf put an arm around his girlfriend. "I love her and I'd like to marry her. So… Dinky and I thought that… perhaps you would be so kind and marry us? I remember that you married three couples at Harry Potter's wedding because you had been allowed by the Ministry to do so, so… would you do us the honour, sir?"

"Of course I would, Dobby!" Albus replied. "When are you planning to get married?"

"The sooner the better," Dinky blushed, resting her hand on her slightly bulging belly.

"Oh, I see," the headmaster grinned knowingly. "And where would you like to have the ceremony?"

"Master Harry said he'd let us marry in his house," Dobby said. "We do not want a big party, sir, just the Potter family, and of course Miss Hermione and Mr Ron. After the wedding I will be living with the Potters. Master Harry said he'd gladly pay for my work as well, I just had to promise him to be more careful in the future."

"More careful?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" the male elf looked at his shoes, "you know, Dobby and Dinky weren't paying attention to the house when it caught fire. But we promised master Harry to be better elves in the future. I hope Professor Dumbledore will not miss Dobby's work too much in the castle."

"I believe Hogwarts has just enough elves. I'm sure you'll be very happy in Harry's house, Dobby."

"Dobby thinks the same, sir!" the elf clasped his hands gleefully. "Is Professor Dumbledore available for the wedding-ceremony on next Saturday?"

"Saturday, Saturday… I think I haven't planned anything for that day yet. I'll gladly perform the ceremony for you."

* * * * *

"Minnieeeee…"

"What?" Minerva asked, not even looking up from a test she was correcting.

"Minnie, talk to me, please!"

"Let me concentrate on this or I'll never finish it!" she snapped. 

"Can I help with it?"

"No, Aberforth, you can't. All you know about Transfiguration is how to turn a goat into a woman."

"But you have to admit that it must have been quite a good little piece of Transfiguration if my dear brother couldn't notice the ruse!"

"Oh, yeah, it must have been perfect!" she snorted. "Just as perfect as yesterday's little deception, eh?"

"You know what your problem is, Minnie?"

"No," she said, directing her attention back to the sheet of paper.   

"Your problem is that you don't have a sense of humour. Neither does Albus."

"I could debate that. Albus has a great sense of humour. What _he_ has can be called a sense of humour, while what _you_ have can only be called stupidity."

"Oh, c'mon, dear, don't say that you disliked my little joke yesterday that much!" Aberforth sighed.

"Why?" she looked up suddenly, her beady little eyes gleaming with fury. "Should I have felt happy that Albus thought I let you knock me up at my age? Do you have any idea how ridiculous I felt? And poor Albus! He was just as embarrassed as me! What do you think would have happened if anyone else besides Albus and I had got to know about my alleged pregnancy? The whole school would be laughing at me!"

"But… that's the function of April Fool's Day – to make us laugh!" her husband said. "Besides, people wouldn't have only laughed at you, but at me, too. And I wouldn't have minded at all."

"You should have," she grunted. "How can you be such a clown even at your age? How can you lie that you are going to be a father when you are going to have your second great-grandchild any time now? I thought you have grown up… at least a bit, Aby," she sighed, her anger disappearing to be replaced by disappointment.

"Dear…" the old wizard knelt down before her, taking her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or Albus. I just… couldn't resist the temptation when he asked how you were feeling. I wasn't planning this, but… when he asked me that question, I got a sudden idea, and… couldn't restrain myself. I know that this is why my first wife left me: I was too much of a clown for her to bear," he heaved a huge sigh, his features very stern. "I tried and tried to change, Minnie, I tried to change not to lose you as well, but… old habits die hard, and an old personality cannot be changed. But… if there are charms or potions to turn me more serious, then I'd gladly subject myself to them if you want… I don't want to lose you."

"No, Aberforth," she sniffed, tears brimming her eyes. "I wouldn't ask you to subject yourself to something like that… if you got more serious due to a potion or charm, it… it just wouldn't be you anymore. Believe it or not, I love you. I love you, despite your mistakes. Or… put it this way: _together _with your mistakes. I will not leave you because who you are or what you are like, but I ask you one thing: you don't need to change, just… think it over before you do something that you think is funny. Just think over what the others would think of it before you act. That's all I ask."

"I'll try, Minnie, I swear," he lifted her right hand to his lips and kissed it. "Thank you."

"Do not thank me, just leave me fifteen minutes of peace – I really need to correct these tests. I promised my students to give it back to them tomorrow."

There was a tap on the window – an owl wanted to be let in.

"Oooooh, Minnie! Owl from my grandson, Aberforth the third!" the old wizard yelled excitedly. "He writes… Aberforth the fourth is born! Yippieee! I'm a great-grandpa again! Look at this wizard photo, isn't he adorable? I think he takes after me!" 

"Really cute… just like you," his wife smiled at the newborn's photo. "We'll have to show it to Julie."

"Of course, my little kitten, but now: party!" he jerked Minerva off her seat and danced across the room with her.

"Aberforth!" she panted. "Let me go! I've got to…"

"Correct the tests, I know," he rolled his eyes. "But only after a nice glass of champagne at Madame Rosmerta's. We've got to celebrate this! Come on, dear!"

Before she could protest, he marched her out of their room and out of the castle, towards Hogsmeade.

* * * * *

Wednesday evening Daniel, Gilda and Norbert decided to go back to the chamber of Gryffindor. They applied a tricky immobilising charm on Moaning Myrtle beforehand, so that the ghost wouldn't be able to disturb them.

Ginny was just about to close Honeydukes when they arrived there through the underground tunnel, and they just managed to slip through the door after the last two customers before Ginny put up the 'closed' sign.

Thirty minutes later, they were in the chamber again.

"I wish it could be opened without me having to prick my fingers every time," Dan complained, sucking at his bleeding fingertip as Gilda rushed to the diary lying open on the red marble table.

"So… let's see, where did we stop reading it?" her eyes skimmed the page. "Aha!"

_…I ask you – no, beg you – to go on with your life as Godwin Potter – not Godwin Gryffindor. To the world you are a Potter and no one may know that I have ever fathered a child. _

_I have mentioned before that I have the Sight. It is a very rare gift for men, usually only women possess it, so I suppose I can be regarded as fortunate to have it. I haven't had too many visions, but those few I had have turned reality – for example I have foreseen that my best friend would turn on me and it has happened so. I have foreseen that he would murder me. Yes, my one-time best friend. I am sure that I will die at Salazar's hand. I have also foreseen that Rowena would die and Salazar would remarry. And finally, I have foreseen one more important thing: that my son will be an Imaginer. _

_You might be wondering what an Imaginer is. Well, Godwin, it is an extremely rare type of wizard who has the ability of making things come true by only imagining them._

Gilda looked up. "Hey, Dan, it reminds me of your Snitch-exploding. And the spiders."

"I have already told you, Gil, it wasn't me," the boy shook his head. "I don't know much about Imaginers," he lied, "but I'd like to get to know more... So, read on." 

_My mentor, Merlin, knew a lot about Imaginers, since he has travelled all around the world. According to him, there have been only four Imaginers in Europe so far, and another few dozens on other continents. Most of them have allegedly lived in Persia, but this might not be true – we will never know, since there haven't been any Imaginers in the last two centuries. They seem to have died out somehow. No one knows how a wizard becomes an Imaginer, but supposedly it can have different ways to get the powers of Imagining. I don't know how you will become an Imaginer, all that I know is that you'll become one. And I'm very proud of it, my Son. _

_As it was Persia where most Imaginers turned up, the Persian Imaginers decided to collect the knowledge on their powers and write it down onto stone columns. An Anglo-Saxon witch, who lived for years in the area of the one time Persia, searched for information on the wizarding culture of the ancient Persians. This witch (called Vivian) learnt how to interpret the signs on the Persian columns and decided to write down everything she found on the Imaginers. Later, the columns got destroyed by Barbarian tribes living in that area._

_As far as I know, only two copies of Vivian's book exist. One of them is in the possession of her descendants, the other used to be in the possession of Merlin. Merlin, however, entrusted me to take care of the precious book after his death. Now I'm leaving that book to you, Son. You can find it on the highest shelf – I hope it will help you to become a wonderful Imaginer. There are several other books on the shelves as well, I have been collecting them for months – I am sure you will find all of them useful in your future studies._

_I must finish my message, dear Son. I wish you all the happiness in life and may you be more successful a wizard than your father has been. Never forget that I'm proud of you and love you._

_Your father,_

_Godric Gryffindor_

Barely had Gilda finished reading out the message when Daniel was already standing by the bookshelf, reading the titles of the various books. Suddenly, he yanked one of them off the shelf.

"That's it!" he yelped. "_'The Imaginer'_, by Vivian Vablatsky."

"Is she an ancestor of Cassandra Vablatsky?" Norbert asked.

"Dunno. Might be," Dan shrugged, turning over the pages of the book. Strangely, this was the only book in the small library that wasn't covered with a thick layer of dust.  "How cool is it!" he breathed, reading chapter titles like 'How to develop your Imaginer skills' and 'When you think you are a perfect Imaginer, you still have to learn a lot'. He was delighted to have found this book just when he thought he'd run out of syllabus by the end of April. He could develop his skills to perfection and become the greatest Imaginer of all times!  

"Hey, a page is missing!" he said, beckoning his friends to himself. "Look, someone's ripped it out!"

"Why would someone want a page of a book like this?" Norbert frowned.

"No idea," Dan shook his head.

"What could have been on that page?" Gilda mused. The last words on the last page before the missing one were: _The art of cont_.

"The art of what?"

"Possibly the word continued on the next page but it got removed," the girl said. "It could be controversy… or… contempt. Or perhaps contact. Or continuity. It could be about five hundred words."

"It's fishy," Dan furrowed his brow. "Why would someone tear out a page of a book that is so rare? And why not take the whole book if he needed it? Why just one page?"

"Search me," Norbert shrugged. "Anyway, there are lots of other books in here we could look at. For example… here's a book about the ancestors of Godric. Wow, you do have a huge family-tree, Dan! Not even the Malfoys are such an old wizarding family. I feel jealous."

But Dan wasn't listening to him anymore – he seemed to be immersed in his thoughts. "You know…"

"What?"

"I don't think that the Potters ever received Gryffindor's owl telling them about this chamber."

"What makes you think so?" Miss Lockhart asked.

"When Dumbledore told my parents and me about our ancestry, he mentioned that Godwin Potter was an Imaginer, but he said that he didn't have any books to learn how to use his powers, thus he just did it by instinct. Had Godwin known about this chamber, then he would have found Vivian Vablatsky's book and would have learnt from there… don't you think?"

"Possibly," Norbert shrugged. "Maybe the owl sent by Godric died on its way… another bird of prey might have attacked it or something. Does it matter at all?"

"No," Dan shook his head. "I think we should be going back to the school. Astronomy begins in an hour." 

The three kids had barely reached the staircase leading up to the Astronomy Tower when Professor Potter called out to them.

"Yes, dad?" Daniel turned around, seeing a rather furious expression on his father's face. "What's the matter?"

"What have you done to Moaning Myrtle?" Harry demanded.

The boy made a politely confused face. "What do you mean?"

"I happened to pass by Myrtle's toilet ten minutes ago and I heard some strange noise coming out. It was nothing like the usual Myrtle-wailing. I got curious and entered. And do you know… do you know what I saw there?"

"No idea at all," Dan fibbed.

"I saw Myrtle being immobilised. She couldn't even open her mouth, just whimpered with her lips stuck together. I have never seen a ghost under the effect of _Immobilus_ and I was really curious who did this to her. After I said _Finite Incantatem_, her first words were: 'Your son and his two friends! They did it!' So, Daniel, I'm awaiting your explanation," Harry crossed his arms.

"How can you believe Myrtle? She's a freak, dad, you know that! She keeps spying on people in the bathroom and everything… if I were in your place, I wouldn't believe a word of hers."

Harry gave his son a scowl. "I know Myrtle's unfortunate liking for peeping at naked prefects, but I know her for a truthful person." 

"We're going to be late for Astronomy, sir," Norbert interjected.

"Then I'll talk to Professor Sinistra," Professor Potter said. "So, can you give me an explanation?"

"Why don't you ask Myrtle?" Dan snapped.

"Because she's in no condition to talk. She's shocked and cannot do anything else but cry."

"How unusual of Myrtle, eh?" Norbert grimaced.

"Dad, oh, dad!" came another voice from behind. It was Lily Potter rushing towards them. "I've been looking for you all evening! Dad, I just got to know that Dobby's going to marry Dinky in our house on Saturday! May I come? I know it's not a Hogsmeade weekend, but I'd like to be there, pleeeease!"

While Harry told his daughter off for running around the corridors at such a late hour without a reason (you don't have Astronomy tonight!), Dan and his friends managed to escape.

"I totally love your sister!" Norbert smirked as they hurried upstairs into the tower.

Daniel gave him a questioning look.

"I mean I'm grateful to her," young Malfoy corrected himself. "She helped us escape."

"Now she did. But later your dad will surely come back to this topic," Gilda replied bitterly. "Maybe we shouldn't have immobilised Myrtle. As soon as she gets better, she'll tell your dad about the secret chamber and we'll get expelled for having sneaked out to Hogsmeade again."

"I'm not worried about that," Daniel smiled. He'd just have to imagine Harry forgetting what he was about to ask. For a second, he felt a pang of remorse, thinking that playing with other people's thoughts like that wasn't exactly fair, but in certain cases he just had to do that. He was a twelve-year-old boy, after all, with not much sense of responsibility. All he knew was that having powers that others didn't have was fun, and if he sometimes used them for good purposes (just like when he helped Valentine in Snape's class), then he was entitled to use them a bit for mischief-making as well. 

Perhaps this was a wrong philosophy, but he wasn't old enough to philosophise. He just hoped that his father wouldn't tell Dumbledore about Myrtle's case, because he _knew _that he wouldn't be able to lie to the headmaster. Albus would clearly see through any kind of deception and there was no way he could be imagine-influenced. Too bad.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but I cannot let you come to the wedding," Harry said.

"Why not?"

"Because it is no Hogsmeade weekend."

"But… it's Easter!" she reasoned.

"I know, but students do not leave the castle during the Easter holidays," her father pointed out. "It's a Hogwarts rule."

"Oh, come on, dad, don't tell me that you ever cared for the Hogwarts rules! You broke them more often than any other student!"

"But that was when I was a kid. Now I'm a teacher and I'm supposed to be sticking to the rules."

"Couldn't you just… ask Dumbledore to make an exception?" she pleaded with puppy eyes.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but that would look like as though he was favouring you, just because you're a teacher's daughter. I cannot let anyone think that Albus is unfair."

"Oh, it's not about the headmaster at all, is it?" her hands clenched into fists. "It's about your damn reputation! You know what? Fuck your reputation!"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for insulting a professor. And another ten points will be taken if you don't go up to your dormitory immediately," Harry said resolutely. He had never told off/punished his daughter before, but there was a first time for everything. She seemed to be getting out of hand.

The girl's face turned ruby-red with fury. "You know what, Harry?" she put the emphasis on the 'Harry' part, showing that she didn't feel like calling him dad again, "Now I understand Remus Lupin a hundred percent! I understand why he hates you! You are selfish!"

Professor Potter's eyes narrowed. "Not selfish, just fair. On the other hand, young lady, it was _you_ who told me the other day that you were missing some strictness from me. That you practically longed to be told off to feel that I'm your father. Because you needed me."

"Hah! I don't need a father like you! I hate you, Harry!" she shouted and stormed away.

With a lump in his throat, Harry followed her with his eyes, wondering what got into his daughter.

* * * * *

Saturday was a wonderful spring day with a lot of sunshine and birdsong. In the Muggle world it was Easter, but in the wizarding world so few people celebrated it as a Christian holiday that no one really seemed to care that it was Easter in fact. It seemed that Dobby and Dinky had picked just the right day to get married.

The small ceremony was held in the garden of the Potter house with only a couple of friends attending. The triplets and Lea had been told not to make any trouble or they wouldn't be allowed to attend at all. So, Robert, Richard and Rose were behaving like little angels, though for them it was sheer torture. 

"Aren't they cute?" Ginny whispered into Harry's ear as they watched the two elves seal their vows with a kiss. "Weddings are always so beautiful."

"Yeah… but no wedding could be as beautiful as ours was," he smiled back at her. "It was so special and funny with three couples marrying at once… Dudley and Millicent… Hermione and Ron… really, where's Ron? I thought he wouldn't miss Dobby getting married in a brand new maroon suit."

"He had to miss it," Hermione joined them, holding Rupert by the hand. "Wendelin went into labour in the morning and he insisted that he'd stay by her."

"Oh," Harry nodded knowingly. Wendelin was Ron's pet niffler that he had received from Harry for Christmas in his seventh year. It was rumoured that some nifflers had escaped from Aberforth's Care of Magical Creatures class and one of them was supposedly the father of Wendelin's cubs.

Harry's glance met Dumbledore's and strangely, a shiver ran down his spine – the old wizard was looking at him in a rather peculiar way… Harry didn't know this glance. Or did he? Well… perhaps. This glance reminded him a little bit of the one Albus had given him after the third task when he had told him about the whole terrible graveyard adventure. Before Harry could make sure that this stare was the same as that one seventeen years ago, the headmaster looked away, seemingly interested in Dobby caressing Dinky's belly. The young Charms professor shook his head. He must have been imagining things… why would Dumbledore have the reason to look at him like that – with pity and anxiety? 

Harry tried not to think of it, so he rather directed his thoughts to his children. He felt a pang of remorse that he didn't let Lily attend the wedding, but he couldn't go on favouring his own daughter, could he? True that he had let his own son keep the Marauder's Map, but it was done in secret, while everyone would have known if he had allowed Lily to leave the castle. He felt worried about his eldest daughter – she was behaving rather strangely lately. She told him that she had never regarded him as a father, she told him that she needed to get dressing-downs from him to feel that she actually _had _a father, then, when he finally had a reason to tell her off, she said that she hated him and didn't need a father like him. It was… as though it wasn't even Lily. Harry couldn't help but feel concerned about the always so peaceful and nice Lily – the Lily who had never put a toe out of line before. The Lily who had never talked back before… the Lily who now supposedly hated him. He shuddered at the thought of his daughter hating him. Did he deserve her hate at all? Or was it just the usual teenager 'I'm-defying-my-parents'-syndrome? Yes, it definitely had to be it – it had started with Lily dating the Malfoy boy. Really, had she at last told Norbert that she didn't have feelings for him? – Harry mused. He'd have to ask her when she wasn't in the mood for hating him anymore.

Speaking of Malfoys…

A blonde figure appeared at the gate, peering into the garden. Albus Dumbledore must have noticed him at once, because he excused himself from the new couple and hurried off to the gate.

"Well, Draco?" he asked in a hushed voice. "Have you been to Malfoy manor?"

"Yes, sir," the young banker nodded. "And I have rather disturbing news. The house-elves have also disappeared." 

The headmaster knitted his silvery eyebrows. "What do you mean? Where are they?"

"No idea, sir. They are supposed to have stayed at Malfoy manor, but they aren't there. I don't think that all of them have left with father and mother… curious."

"Yes, most curious. Well, thank you, Draco."

"You're welcome. And sorry about the bad news."

* * * * *

 Viviane and Valentine were sitting by the lake with Lancelot and Kevin.

"Hey, Lily!" Lancelot waved at the girl approaching across the lawn.

"Hello," Lily flopped down onto the grass next to them, looking rather grouchy. "How are you?"

"And how are you?" asked Kevin. "You look terrible. What's eating you?"

"Oh, just the wedding. I wanted to go and Harry didn't let me," the girl sighed. "I'm mad at him. But… I'm also ashamed."

"Ashamed? About what?"

"Well… I was rather rude to him when he said he couldn't allow me to go. I told him terrible things."

"What kinds of terrible things?" inquired Val.

"I told him that I hated him… that I didn't need a father like him… I told him that he was selfish and that I agreed with Remus Lupin about hating him," Lily hid her face into her palms. "I've screwed it up. What if he'll never forgive me?"

"Oh, come on, Lils, he's your dad and he loves you," Viviane said compassionately. "Val and I also irritate our parents all the time, but they always forgive us. That's what parents are good for: loving us and forgiving us whatever we do."

"You can speak easily, you have never told your parents that you hate them, have you?" Miss Potter pouted.

"No, I think not," the twins shook their heads.

"Good for you. I have no idea how to make this up to him," Lily sighed. "I don't hate him, I just… I don't know. When he told me that he didn't want to let me go to the wedding, my mind somehow got veiled by some mist, and I… I had no idea what I was telling him. I was out of my mind for sure, under normal circumstances I would have never told him things like that. And I have no idea what was happening to me… it was the same weeks ago when we talked in the Astronomy Tower. I was rude to him back then, too. I told him things I didn't mean to say… I fear I'm going mad," she touched her temples, as though she was suffering from a serious headache. "But don't mention this to Harry, will you? I don't want him to worry about me."

"Not to worry?" Lancelot frowned. "I would be worried if my daughter went crazy."

"But that's out of question, isn't it, Lance? Your daughter could only be perfect," Val mocked, knowing her cousin's inherited megalomania.

"Really, Lance," Kevin smirked, "what will your daughter be called? Guinevere?"

"Ha-ha," Percy's son wrinkled his nose. "Anyway, how many people were present at the wedding?" 

"Well…" Lily shrugged. "As far as I know mum, Harry, Robert, Richie, Rosie, Lea … Dumbledore, Aunt Hermione, Rupert and Sirius."

"And dad?" Valentine raised an eyebrow.

"He wasn't there. I just met Aunt Hermione when she came back from the wedding. She said that Uncle Ron's niffler had gone into labour some hours ago and he was helping her deliver her cubs."

"Ooooh, Wendelin's got babies????" the twins exclaimed. "We've got to see them!"

"You can't. You aren't allowed to leave the school until the end of term. Given that you are only in first year, you cannot even go to Hogsmeade on weekends," Lancelot reminded them in an 'I'm-not-a-school-prefect-yet-but-one-day-I'll-be-one-and-then-I'll-teach-you-to-respect-the-school-rules' tone .

"Hah, stupid restrictions!" Val waved indignantly. "They aren't going to stand in our way, right, Viv?"

Her twin nodded eagerly. "And you'd better keep your big mouth shut, Lance."

Percy's son adjusted his glasses in an 'I'm-damn-important' sort of way. "I should tell on you, you know…" Three wands raised against him at once – the twins' and Kevin's. "…but of course I won't. I'm not a sneak, what did you think of me?!?"

* * * * *

It was almost midnight. Everything was dark in the castle, save the little light given by the torches along the walls. Two figures were creeping along the corridor on their tiptoes, looking around on every corner carefully.

"Do you reckon we can get down to Hogsmeade unnoticed?" whispered one of them.

"Sssshhh!" hushed the other one.

They continued their way downstairs, unnoticed, until…

"Ickle firsties! Peevsie loves ickle firsties!"

"Shut up, Peeves!" said one of the figures.

"Shut up?" the poltergeist yelled. "No way, kiddies! Oi, professors! Two Gryffindors are lurking on the Charms corridor!"

"Damn you, Peeves!" one figure growled.

"Run for it!" the other said and the two students dashed down the corridor, followed by the poltergeist's cheerful cackling.

Somewhere in the building, a door banged open (or was it the noise of Peeves dropping a cupboard down the stairs?).

"This way!" whispered one voice.

"Which way?" asked another – rather cold one.    

"Oops."

"Yes, oops, Miss Weasley and Miss Weasley," Professor Snape told the two girls, his teeth practically shining in the semi-darkness. "Before I take another hundred points from Gryffindor, may I ask what you are doing here at such a late hour?" 

"We… we just…" Viviane mumbled.

"Just what?" Snape raised a black eyebrow.

"Wanted to see Wendelin's cubs," Valentine blurted out.

"Whose what?" Severus crossed his arms in a menacing way.

"Wendelin is our dad's niffler," Viv said dejectedly, dreading what their fellow Gryffindors would say when they spotted the hourglasses in the morning, seeing that they had at least a hundred (if not two hundred) points less than the previous evening. The first time, when they had gone into the Forbidden Forest, the Gryffindors hadn't blamed the Weasleys, only Daniel and Norbert. This time, however, the twins would surely become public enemy number one in front of their house-mates. 

"Niffler?" Snape's features changed from strict and menacing to a bit softer. "Ah, those are really… nice animals. I used to own one when I was a little boy…" he said with a dreamy expression, then suddenly shuddered, as though he realised that he shouldn't be telling his students about his childhood pets. "So, you have been caught out of bed in the middle of the night, which, certainly, entails a punishment."  

The two Weasley girls cringed, fearing to hear the words 'Two hundred points from Gryffindor' coming out of Snape's mouth, but those words never came. Instead they heard:

"A detention with Mr. Bradley tomorrow. The whole day. Yes, I know it's Sunday, and yes, I know it's Easter, but you made trouble for yourselves. You will be helping the caretaker from eight o'clock a.m. to eight o'clock p.m., and be grateful that I didn't take points from your house this time," he glanced down at the girls, not understanding why those two beamed at him so happily. "Off to bed now!"

"Yeeees, sir!" Valentine sighed, clutching her robes around her heart.

"He is really not that nasty anymore, is he?" Vivian whispered as they watched the Professor hurry away, his long, deep green robes billowing around him.

"Nasty?" Val sounded downright miffed, as though she had been insulted. "He's perfect."

* * * * *

"Too bad we didn't get to see the baby nifflers," Viv pouted as they trotted downstairs the next morning, heading for the caretaker's room. As they got there, they saw the door standing slightly ajar. Voices were filtering through the gap:

"I don't care that he doesn't like me, it's still his birthday! And every person deserves to get a present for his birthday!"

"I wouldn't say that about Snape," Professor Longbottom's voice replied. "But do as you see fit. Buy him a present. Really, when exactly is his birthday?"

"The 13th April."

"Ah, cool. It will be a Friday. Friday the 13th. Perhaps you should buy him a talisman against bad-luck, he might need it that day."

"Ehm, Mr. Bradley?" Valentine cleared her throat.

"Oh, I didn't see you there, girls," Beryl turned around. "Good morning and happy Easter."

"Happy Easter to you, too, Mr. Bradley and Professor Longbottom," Viviane said. 

"Well, what can I do for you?" asked Beryl.

"Professor Snape sent us to help you with your work today. We're in detention."

"Why? What terrible things have you done to earn a detention?" Neville raised an eyebrow.

"We just… wanted to sneak out of the castle to Hogsmeade to see the newborn cubs of our dad's niffler. And Professor Snape caught us." 

"Aha," the caretaker nodded knowingly. "It seems that Professor Snape has developed a habit of sending his students to me for detention. Well, girls, I don't think I could give you much work today… it's Easter Sunday and the castle has been cleaned before the holidays started."

"But… we are supposed to help you. We cannot leave without having helped you," Val insisted.

"You know what, girls?" Ms. Bradley said, "You _can_ help me. But not in the castle."

"No?"

"No," Beryl shook her head. "I was going to go down to Hogsmeade and have a look at some newborn nifflers. Do you care to help me in the task?"

Viviane and Valentine's faces lit up. "Of course, Mr. Bradley! Thank you very much!"

* * * * *

After his weekly training session with Dumbledore, Daniel decided to visit the chamber again. He didn't want his friends to come this time, though – he wanted the chamber, and especially the Imaginer book, to himself. He was already afraid that Norbert and Gilda might suspect him to be an Imaginer, but he hoped that it wasn't the case. 

Just yesterday Albus had told Dan that they had reached the end of his ancestor's diary that gave them details on Godwin Potter's self-Imaginer-tutoring. For a moment, Daniel had played with the thought of telling the headmaster about Vivian Vablatsky's book so that Dumbledore could continue teaching him from it, but after reconsidering it, he had changed his mind. If he had shown the book to the headmaster, then he'd have had to tell where he had found it, and the headmaster would have got to know that he had visited the wishing well again, despite being told not to. So, showing the book would have meant getting expelled. Thus, he had decided to try and exercise on his own. He just had to make up stories for his friends about where he had gone. 

For today evening, he had fed Gilda and Norbert a story that he wanted to meet his sister Lily, who – allegedly – wasn't feeling too well. And part of it was true – Lily was really feeling horrible about having treated her father like that but she didn't have the guts to stand in front of Harry and apologise. On the other hand, she was still a bit mad at him for having denied her the chance to see the elven wedding. 

Daniel crept through the corridor to Honeydukes, then sneaked through the village to the cave. It was no easy business, given that some people were still strolling on the streets and he didn't want to borrow/steal Norbert's invisibility cloak this time. However, Dan had learned a tricky little illusion-imagining charm with which he could persuade someone that they had seen things that they hadn't, or they didn't see things that they actually saw. 

Entering the chamber, some inexplicable feeling swept over the boy – he felt very, very satisfied to have the place and the books just to himself, but he also felt scared and guilty, knowing that he was trespassing. 

"Well, I'm here," he whispered to the bare walls, sinking down into a chair in front of the red marble table. "I'm here, Godric. I'm your heir and I'm proud to be here. You know, I was sorted into Slytherin, but that must have been a mistake. I'm sure that the Sorting Hat had a temporary brain damage or something - that's why it put me into Slytherin while I should be in your house. I hope you don't mind if I read your books – I mean, you have left them here for your son to learn from them, but he very possibly never got here. We cannot let all the knowledge stored in here be wasted, can we? I'm also an Imaginer just like your son, so, if you don't mind, I'm going to study from his book. Is that okay?" he looked around, as if waiting for an answer, but the walls didn't reply, and the golden light in the red brackets didn't show him a sign either. "Well, it seems you don't have an objection, do you, Godric? Okay," he reached out for Vivian Vablatsky's book that he had left on the table last time and opened it. "Let the magic begin."

* * * * *

The 13th April came earlier than anyone had expected. It was Professor Snape who awaited it the least. He didn't like Fridays that were the 13th day of the month, and he definitely didn't like his birthdays. 

Every year, he got a parcel from his old mother – a parcel usually containing a warm jumper with the script 'Sev' knitted into it. He always wrote his mum a letter thanking her for the wonderful jumpers, but he never wore any of them. His cupboard was already full of fluffy jumpers in all colours of the rainbow, all of them bearing the letters 'Sev'. Oh, yes, for his mum he was still little Sev, or even Sevvie, not to mention Sevviekins. Brrrr… he shuddered whenever he thought of his mother calling him such nicknames in front of other children – utter shame. He remembered that his one time friend, Lucius Malfoy, had laughed for a whole day when he had once heard Mrs. Snape call her son Sevviekins.   

This time, Mrs. Snape had sent him a lilac jumper that would have looked wonderful on Gilderoy Lockhart. As he first glanced at his present, Snape felt a strange wave of deja-vu wash over him… he had once seen something of exactly the same colour… a… bra? But… where and when had he seen a lilac brassier? And who was wearing it? He shook his head, trying to clear it of idiotic thoughts, then hastily jotted down a thank-you-note and a couple of 'I'm-doing-fine-nothing-special-happened' lines for his mum (carefully avoiding the topic of his new teeth), and finally hurried off to his first class of the day.

As he entered the dungeon classroom, the children started to murmur, giving him funny glances that Snape didn't notice. He walked up to the blackboard and was just about to start today's lecture when something moved on his desk.

"Huh?" he turned back from the blackboard, spotting a brown package on the table. "What is this?" he asked.

The children didn't answer, so he leaned closer to the package and saw a tiny card on its top.

_To Professor Snape,_

_Happy birthday!_

_From the Gryffindors and the Slytherins_

Severus almost dropped the card. The impossible had happened. He had received a birthday-present from his students.

"What… what is this?" he muttered.

"Well, open the parcel, Professor!" Valentine Weasley suggested.

The Potions Master reached out for the box and it moved again. What the heck could it be? Hopefully not some trick-charmed object that would explode into his face as soon as he opened it… he had to be careful, there were _Weasleys_ sitting in this class, and one of them was a son of Fred and George Weasley…

"Go on, Professor, open it!" Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy said encouragingly.

Well, if Malfoy also knew what it was and still encouraged him to open it, then it couldn't be something terrible, could it? But… come to think of it, Norbert was Lucius Malfoy's son and Lucius wasn't exactly on friendly terms with Severus anymore…

Poor Professor Snape was helpless. To do or not to do, that was the question. Open it or not open it?

The box shuddered again and some whimpering little noise came out. Snape's eyes widened. He _knew_ this noise! He had heard it several times in his childhood!

He practically ripped off the wrapping and opened the parcel to see a small, furry black creature in it with a long nose and cute whiskers.

"A niffler!" he breathed, his face full of affection. "Just… just like mine used to be… How…? Why…?" he turned to his students. 

"Well, we told you that dad's niffler Wendelin had cubs," Viviane spoke up. "There were too many cubs and Wendelin decided to dispose of one so that she could feed the other five properly. This little one would have died, so we asked dad to let you have it… we told him that you used to have one when you were a little boy and that he'd be in good hands if he was yours. Dad said he couldn't imagine you petting a niffler, but finally he agreed to give this cub to you."

"But… why give me a present at all?" the Professor asked, frowning. 

"'Cause it's your birthday, prof," Kevin chimed in.

"Yeah, and the whole class – both us Gryffindors and the Slytherins – decided that you had been rather nice to us recently, so we wanted to surprise you on your birthday," added Lancelot.

"Me? Nice to you?" Severus blinked. "I had no idea," he really hadn't noticed himself being nicer to them than earlier and he also didn't know how the children had got to know about his birthday.

"But it's true, Professor," Daniel said. "You have changed… to the better."

"Well, thank you for your assessment, Mr. Potter," Snape said mockingly, while absentmindedly stroking the small animal.

"What are you going to name him?" Lavinia Flint asked.

Severus looked down at the baby niffler that opened its shiny black eyes and sniffed his fingers. "I'll name him Lucky. It's 13th Friday, so I think the name fits."

Some of the children sniggered as Snape lowered Lucky into the box. "Well, I… I thank you. And now, let's see today's potion!" several groans could be heard – apparently most of the students had expected to go on partying to the end of the class, but they should have known Snape better than to hope for something like that.

* * * * *

The day of surprises hadn't ended yet. After the students left the classroom, Severus stayed in there a bit to get acquainted with Lucky. He fondled the little animal, remembering the niffler he had had in his childhood. This one was even smaller than that one had been when he had got it from his father. But that one must have been at last a month old, while this one was barely a week old.

"Want some milk, eh, Lucky?" he whispered to his pet, conjuring a baby's bottle, offering it to the furry creature. Lucky started to suck it enthusiastically.

"How adorable," a voice spoke up.

Snape looked up to see the caretaker standing in the doorframe.

"May I come in?"

"Of course," he motioned her to enter, though he felt rather annoyed about being interrupted in feeding his niffler. He hadn't let anyone disturb him when attending his first niffler in his childhood, but now he was not only annoyed by the presence of another person, but a bit embarrassed too. He just wasn't the type of man who liked being seen by others when showing affection for someone/something. The problem was that he had shown affection for the caretaker as well, and the sheer memory of them sharing a kiss made him feel utterly embarrassed, if not humbled. "Well, what can I do for you, Mr. Bradley?"

"Don't worry, Professor, I'm not going to ask for more Potions classes," Beryl said with a hint of sarcasm. "I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday," with that she handed him an object wrapped in deep green paper. The package even had a silver ribbon tied around it – the colours of Slytherin.

However, the present in it was nothing slytherinish at all – it turned out to be a…

"Wizard jokes?" Snape read out the title of a book after having peeled off the wrapper.

"Yeah," Beryl shrugged. "You remember that we shared some jokes with each other back in September?"

Of course he remembered! How could he not remember? But, back in September, things had been totally different. They hadn't slept together back then. He hadn't kissed Bradley back then. He hadn't been in love with Bradley back then. Or had he? When he thought it over, he had to admit that he had no idea when he had fallen in love with the caretaker. Perhaps he had started to like Bert when Bert first came into his class and told him that he had made a mistake. No one had dared tell him that he had made a mistake before… but Bradley did. No one before had dared shout at him and blame him for things again and again – but Bradley did.

Damn Bradley!

"Well… thank you. I'm definitely going to read it," Severus said. "Perhaps I'm going to get to know at last the end of Albus' joke in which the troll, the hag and the leprechaun all go into a bar…"

"What?" Beryl raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Long story."

"I don't mind long stories," she said, reaching out to stroke the niffler that Snape had put down onto the table before opening his present.

"Mr. Bradley… how did you know about my birthday?"

"Well, you told me when it was," she shrugged. "Before we went to the Shrieking Shack."

"Oh," he nodded. "I didn't remember."

"I suppose there are lots of things you don't remember, Professor," she whispered, her warm brown eyes boring deeply into his black ones. He gulped, wanting to move away from her, but his body didn't want to comply. She was drawing him to herself like a magnet, and before he could realise what was happening, he was holding her in his arms, his lips plastered to hers. She responded to his touch, practically melted into his embrace, her fingers getting tangled in his black locks. He couldn't breathe properly, but he didn't even want to – all he wanted was to explore her tonsils with his tongue as much as he could, and to his great satisfaction it seemed to be her desire, too. His whole body was on fire, his hands caressing her back, slipping lower and lower to her waist and hips… and that was when he broke away, gasping for breath.

Bert/Beryl felt Snape stiffen and the first thought that came to her mind was that he must be feeling disgusted by her closeness and was just about to send her away. However, she didn't want to wait for him to shout 'get out of here!', so she whispered a 'sorry' and stormed out. 

Snape was shaken out of his trance when hearing the door of the dungeon classroom bang shut.

"Impossible…" he mumbled. "It can't be…" 

Or could it?

Putting Lucky into his pocket (niffler cubs liked being stored in human's pockets), Severus sneaked out of the dungeon, following Bradley. He had to get to know the truth… he had to!

Fortunately, the caretaker didn't notice him, just grabbed a mop and went upstairs.

Wonderful. Just what Snape needed – Bradley was away from his room. 

He wasn't going to do anything illegal if he inspected the caretaker's room, was he?

The door of Bradley's room was closed in the Muggle way, but for a wizard it was no problem to open it.

Snape looked around to make sure that no one could see him and entered.

The room looked rather tidy. It was the same Filch had used, but it had gone through a lot of change: the air didn't smell of fish, the walls were painted a more cheerful colour, the table was decked with a Muggle embroidered tablecloth and there was also a vase full of flowers. Filch hadn't liked flowers. 

*What am I doing here?* Severus asked himself, but couldn't fight down his curiosity. With swift strides, he walked up to the wardrobe and opened it. There wasn't much to be seen: black robes, dark jumpers and dark pairs of trousers. Absolutely normal. *What was I hoping to find here?* the Potions Master thought. *Perhaps I was just imagining things… yes, I must have been!*

He was about to leave when he spotted a chest of drawers. He pulled open the drawer at the top, only to find books and Muggle ballpoint pens in it. When he pulled open the next one, he caught a glimpse of a photo… it was a wizard picture, because it was moving. To Snape's utter disgust it was Neville Longbottom with a woman and a small child waving from the photo. Why was the caretaker hiding pictures of Longbottom in his chest of drawers? Snape's worst nightmare seemed to have been proven: Bradley was in love with Neville.

Severus dropped the picture back into the drawer as though it had burnt him. It was only then that he realised what the photo had been lying on: a stack of underwear.

Snape gulped and picked up something lacy and lilac. It was a panty, and there was a matching… bra.

_Panties and bras?_

Then he realised that he _had _seen these things before… somewhere… some time… a picture flashed into his mind: a picture of a body leaning over his, wearing nothing but this lilac panty and brassier. The body leant over him, two gentle hands caressing his bare chest, fiery lips showering his neck with kisses, his own hands encircling a very thin waist while round hips pressed to his loins… that waist! Those hips! That was what had shocked him in the dungeon classroom – that Bert Bradley had a tiny waist and round hips like a female.    

He slapped his forehead. Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! How could he be so stupid? How could he have not realised that this person – this deceitful, irritating, yet sweet person – was a woman? Her eyes, her lips, even her voice were that of a female… maybe she had tried to use a bit lower voice to sound like a man, but… she was a woman. Severus let out a relieved sigh. 

*I'm not gay!* he felt like shouting. He hadn't felt so happy in his whole life. He wasn't gay, he was heterosexual, he was absolutely normal! 

_Normal?_ Falling in love with a Muggle? A Muggle who had deceived him for months? A Muggle who had dared take him for a fool like that? 

"Damn you, Bradley!" he hissed, stuffing the knickers back into the drawer. "Damn you for having deceived me! Damn you for having driven me crazy! Damn you for… having made me fall for you!"

Oh yes, he had fallen for her. More than he could express with words. But…

The feeling of relief disappeared as quickly as it had swept over him. 

He loved her. But she loved another. Neville Longbottom.

**A/N: **I'm going to post the first chapter of the goat-story on next Monday or Tuesday, so keep a look-out for it! :)

_Colibi:_ yes, Daniel will tell someone about the chamber.

_VegaKeep:_ you wrote: "_So I guess the question is how did Sally whack Gryffy? Gangland? Fly by Wanding?"_ – I fear I have no idea what you were talking about. Was this review intended for another story just submitted it for me by mistake? Please, enlighten me!

_2Coolio_: cuuuuuuuute? Hm…

_Altec_: glad you liked the April Fool's Day joke :) Don't worry, McGonagall just has the flu, she'll be all right (she was alright already in this chapter). About Tatyana… don't be sure, I tend to create so intricately interwoven plotlines that they might even contain her somewhere. Hehe, yes, I was kind of kidding with making Val fall for Snape ;)

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: one just cannot write Gilderoy NOT in character, it's extremely easy to write him, I think he's the easiest character to write. You had a good hunch about the Imaginer book, are you related to Trelawney? 

_No Longer a Lone Wolf_: thanks :) Be prepared, because the upcoming cliffies will be much worse than the one in chapter 21.

_C-chan:_ hehe, so Aberforth that great prankster managed to deceive you :D I must admit that I felt some kind of a temptation to really make Minerva pregnant, but I thought it'd be way too ridiculous. Yes, the PoA movie without Quidditch will be stupid, because there'll be no reason for Sirius to send Harry the Firebolt. 

_Notebook Girl_: I'm glad you're catching up on the fic! And you're clever to guess that Bert's a girl after chapter 17 :D

_Black Ice_: I can't really tell the difference between 'a made up person shock' and 'a real person shock' (the reason is my lack of English knowledge I this respect). But the shock will be terrible, rest assured. Glad you liked the April Fool's joke, you're not the only one who believed it :)

_Tap Dancing Widow_: no idea who Oliver's wife is… let's say he married someone from his own year or a year younger… dunno. It's not important for the fic, his wife won't make an appearance at all.

_SparkleCharm_: I was rotfl when I read '_how could Dan kiss Myrtle? Wouldn't his head go through hers?_' LOL. Well, they were kissing in the water, and in water ghosts are a bit solid, so his head didn't go through hers ;) I don't think wizards use air-conditioners, but ask Rowling, perhaps they do.

_Elfangor19:_ nice to see you again! Glad you liked the Albus-Aberforth part. I hope you'll like the goat story as well.

_Beauty in Disguise_: no, your theory on Ginny's miscarriage isn't all right. But it's an interesting theory nevertheless. 

_Katrina:_ LOL, many others believed Aberforth's joke, too! Not much to wait till the goat fic :D Rooooon? Wow, that's an interesting theory again.

_Lavendar Brown_: possum? Isn't that a small furry animal? 

_Alexander Phoenix_: the b's in Norbert's speech were intended: Norbert had a serious head cold and when you have a cold, you utter b's instead of m's. Try and pinch your nose and talk, you'll see that all m's will sound b's, just like when you have a cold :)

_Lupin's Angel_: Tatyana being Angel? Wow… you have a very vivid imagination. Tatyana as Liu sounds funny, too. I never said gold and red were wrong. At least I like the colour gold. I'm not exactly fond of red, but gold is nice.

_King Jasbon_: Natasha and Anor? No, not likely. May I ask a silly question I have been wondering for a while? Are you a boy or a girl? I though you might be a boy, 'cause you call yourself king, not queen, LOL.

_Lioness-07863_: was it a quick enough update?

_PheonixFire_: you've got another interesting theory there… it's fun to see how weird theories people make up… I love them, and it shows that you all have very vivid imaginations :) The Gryffindor's chamber is a background thingie, but things will definitely happen around it. No, Dan giving Val the formula wasn't bad at all. Snape will find out about the baby in chapter 26. You'll get Harry fluff in chapter 26, too.

_Mistri:_ I hated that bitch, too, but she's a cool bitch at least… hehe, I can't help, I created her ;) 

_goldenstar555:_ haha, it seems so that almost everyone got deceived by Aberforth! Well done, Aby! :D

_Princess Ginny:_ you'll find out what happened to the tomb in chapter 29.

_Mage:_ Tatyana hitting on Dan? No, holy Snitch, no, I'm a crazy author, but not THAT crazy!

_tyleet_: there'll be H/G action in chapters 26, 28, 29 and 30. Please, be patient until then :)

_Indigo Ziona:_ yeah, Faria was the old prisoner. I have seen some episodes of Blackadder, but I don't remember the one you mentioned. 

_maureen:_ no, the last cliffie wasn't that really evil, but much more evil ones are to come *wicked grin*. No, no tons of chapters left, only 9. 

_Bucky:_ yes, the only person missing from the list is the giant squid, since Albus and Ron have also been added lately ;) Did you refer to Tatyana by 'whatshername'? 

_X-Tow-Naga:_ no, Snape had nothing to do with Tatyana's death, those two never even met. Aaron and Desideria couldn't teleport Tatyana to them for a very peculiar reason that I'm not revealing right now. Snape has just found out that the caretaker is a female, but he doesn't know about the pregnancy yet.

_seashell:_ you'll see how the mean lady is involved, in chapter… 29. I agree with your statement about 'Saddam and there is no good or evil'… yeah.

_sabby_: Aaron's brother was called Anor. And don't worry, there IS a point, trust me to put all pieces of the puzzle into place. 

_BigDaddy753_: yes, Harry will definitely find out about the chamber and Snape will find out about becoming a daddy soon.

_starheart20_: you wrote: "_what will happen, will happen we just have to try to live our lives in the mean time_'. This reminded me a lot of: _"what's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does"._ Yay for Hagrid.

_Wizzabee_: Tatyana won't interfere with the contest, but still weird things will happen at the contest. 

_Punky Poet_: no, Tatyana's 'resurrection' has nothing to do with Gryffindor's chamber at all. Snape will find out about the baby in chapter 26.

_SiriDragon_: happy belated birthday! 

_Houou:_ no, life isn't boring. I wish it could be more boring sometimes, especially these days.

_candycaneOgram_: well, things will happen to Dan's powers for sure… but can't tell you more about it yet. Lily isn't likely to die. You wrote: "_I don't really understand how Harry could be the target because we haven't seen him lately."_ Well, just think of Tom Riddle's dad and grandparents: we have NEVER seen them, and yet they were Tom's target and they got killed. So, this way Harry could easily be the target, and believe me, he is. Harry doesn't know about Gryffindor's chamber – yet. In word document (Times New Roman, size 12) the whole story is 400 pages long, exactly twice as long as TGSiHH.  

_jasper:_ you wrote: "_next chapter should be the one when Snape finds out about Beryl."_ Well, you got it :D Yes, you'll see more of Norb and Lily. 

_Inken:_ hehe… most people can't stand Myrtle at all, and not only in my story, but in the canon as well. I like Myrtle, but deliberately wrote her this obnoxious. I don't think Ron will find out about Val being in love with Snape… he'd die on the spot, the poor fellow. I usually write poems in the garden of our weekend house, but sometimes even at my bed before falling asleep (and then I'm angry in the morning when I don't remember all the lines I had made up, LOL). You asked where I wrote that particular poem. What about playing a bit of guess-where? You could come up with some weird places (think of really weird places!) and I'll say yes or no – we could play in emails as well ;) A Valentine to your socks? Haha… that must have been really funny.

_Phoenix_Kiss02_: well, old McGonagall isn't really pregnant, you know, it was just Aberforth's April Fool's Day's joke. 

_xaebhal:_ thank you, though you're exaggerating a bit ;) Dan and Gilda will get together in chapter 30. Sev has just got to know that Bert is a woman. For the Sorting Hat… can't tell you yet, wait till chapter 28 to find out. 

_AmandaPanda:_ I don't understand the pro-war people at all.

_Lana Riddle_: the last cliffie wasn't even THAT evil… much worse ones are to come :D

_Ash Black_: I'll try and thanks.

_Prongs:_ I never hated Snape. At first I didn't like him, but I've grown to like him lately. Well, there was a bit of Harry in this chapter, so you can't complain :)

_heavenly182angel_: freaky? Glad to hear :D I'm happy you liked the ancient legend.

_Lady Schezar_: well, I'm kind of a comedy writer, but sometimes I can write very serious stuff as well, just wait it out, there'll be chapters in this fic that will be so serious and dark that you won't feel like smiling at all. Glad you like lil Norbie. I like him, too :) 

_Autumn Dreams_: and most of the surprises are yet to come.

_Sean Mulligan_: I hate the war. I'm afraid of it. I fear that somehow even my country will get involved. I don't want terrorist to come here and start to explode things :( And of course I feel sorry for the innocent people of Iraq who never had anything to do with weapons but are still dying in this war. It's unfair.

_Inigma:_ yes, through HP you can make lots of friends :)

_Any last requests_: hehe, that one with the snow was funny. Here in Hungary we have a joke in connection with that: "it's snowing!" everyone looks out the window "Not there, on the other side of the building!" LOL.

_ruffled owl:_ er… where was a "Luke I am your father" thing? I didn't think that Godric's message to his son was a bit like Darth and Luke… oh well. You think Aberforth was a bit evil? Then just wait for the goat story (coming in about a week!)

_Katie Bell_: yes, she's supposed to be dead.

_Hermione We@sley_: what do you mean by '_you missed a little of what was going on at Hogsmeade'? _

_Kamatazi Yumi_: I'm glad I can make your mood better :D No, I haven't heard the Ode to Harry Potter but I've read its text and it's really funny :)

_CloverWeave:_ no, no old body *shudders at the mere thought*. But you have a vivid imagination, that's for sure. No, why would I get sick of you? I never get sick of reading the reviews I get (there's only one exception: if I get nasty flames). Liu won't fall in love with Dan. About Lily… can't tell you yet. Snape has just found out about Beryl :) Glad you liked my Racoon Bite story as well – you don't have to wait too long for the goat one, it'll come in about a week (I'm planning to put up its first chapter on 1st April – it will have three chapters).

_Red Ridding Hood_: you're not the only one I managed to fool with Minerva's "pregnancy" ;) Can't tell you more about Tatyana yet, sorry.

_Makayla P_.: I hope your mum is doing better now :) Well, of course I wouldn't write a gay Snape, would I? There are just enough gay Snapes out there in thousands of HP fanfics, I wanted him to remain hetero.

_dipstick:_ no, there was a different reason for Ginny's miscarriage. Aberforth? Hm. You're the second reader to accuse him. But I can't tell whether it's him or not, wait it out :)

_Mage_: you got the update :D

_Adler:_ thank you very much. I don't really remember when I apologised for my writing… perhaps for the first and the second story I did, but I don't think I did for the third… did I? Well, I'm happy that you like it the way it is :D

_apple-pie_: Snape will find out about the baby in chapter 26. Dan and Gilda will get together in chapter 30. The enemy is… *Agi slaps her hands over her mouth* not telling yet! About Tatyana… wait it out, you'll find out in chapter 29.

_Amaranta:_ I'm glad you think I'm impredictable. For the first story I was accused of being predictable, so I'm very happy that now I'm not predictable anymore :)


	23. Happy Birthday, Hogwarts!

**A/N:** to those who don't know yet: Rowling's baby is born, it's a boy called David. I just love the name David! :D

I'd like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed the first chapter of _Gadding with Goats_! *hugs you all*

This chapter is dedicated to _maureen _and _Altec_ who both had their birthday on Monday. Happy belated birthday to both of you! 

**Chapter 23**

**Happy birthday, Hogwarts! **

"All right, boys… and girls," Harry spoke up, looking at the members of his 'Quidditch team', the team that would play in the parent-teacher game right after the tournament. They were standing at the entrance to the Quidditch pitch, blinking in the warm April sunshine. Harry had reserved the pitch for training his team and it was agreed to not let anyone else in – they didn't want the students to see them and laugh at them in case they made blunders after years/months of not playing Quidditch. "We are going to be a cool team, I'm sure of that. We have two wonderful Beaters," Harry grinned at Fred and George, "a tough Keeper", he nodded in Oliver Wood's direction, "so far two talented Chasers – we'll need a third one -, and an okay Seeker."

"Just an _okay_ Seeker? C'mon, Harry, stop being so modest!" George commented.

"Really, mate, who is going to be the third Chaser?" Ron asked. Although he had played Keeper on the Gryffindor team, he knew quite a lot about the task of a Chaser as well – the Weasley children had grown up playing Quidditch in the back garden of the Burrow and they had learnt to play all positions. Originally, Angelina would have played one of the Chasers, but she had got pregnant again (this time – fortunately - with Fred's baby), so Ginny had taken on her position. Just like in the old times when there had been a bunch of Weasleys on the Gryffindor team…

Harry shrugged. "No idea. The problem is that none of our old school friends have kids at Hogwarts yet… as Ginny was so kind to remind me, not all people started conceiving children at the age of seventeen… Katie is living abroad, Alicia's son is only six years old, Colin and Natalie McDonald are still single, Dennis has a two-year old daughter. Period. I have no idea at all whom we could get to play. All of you should go and ask your friends. Maybe Lee Jordan?" he turned to the twins.

"Out of question," Fred shook his head. "Firstly: he doesn't have a child. Secondly: he's just started that tarantula-farm of his and his hands are full. He wouldn't have time for training sessions."

"Then… someone from our Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw friends?" Ron suggested. "Maybe… Justin?"

"Nah, just married Hannah Abbot – they're on honeymoon," waved Ginny. 

"Then I'm at my wit's end," Harry sighed. "Why don't our old school friends have kids at Hogwarts?"

"Look who's just turned up," Oliver spoke up.

"Who?" Harry looked around to see Cho Chang walking in their direction.

"Hullo, everyone," she smiled. "Are the rumours true? Is there really going to be a match with parents and teachers playing?"

"Not sure," Captain Potter replied. "We might have to call it off – we are a Chaser short and really have no idea whom to ask for the role."

"I'd gladly help," Cho said.

"You?" Ginny knitted her eyebrows. "You used to be a Seeker."

"Yes, but I spent years in the United States where I tried all positions when playing with my friends. Quidditch isn't that popular in America yet, but I think I have managed to persuade some people there that it's by far better than Quodpot. So, if you'd like me to, I'd gladly play Chaser on your team, Harry."

Harry wanted to turn her down somehow, but the Weasley men seemed to be charmed by the idea of Cho as a Chaser. Harry cast a surreptitious glance at Ginny and saw her undisguised disapproval, but what could he do? He had to accept or there wouldn't be a match at all. "Okay. It'd be nice if you played with us, Cho. Thanks for volunteering."

"You're welcome, Harry," the owner of McRice smiled sweetly (Ginny felt like kicking something). "Well, tell me when the next training session is and I'll bring my broomstick. It's an American model, I hope it's not a problem, is it? Now I've got to go – it's my daughter's birthday and I got permission from the headmaster to visit her. Bye," with an even sweeter smile she walked away.

"Put your eyes back into their sockets," Ginny snapped at her brothers.

"Whyyyyy?" George sighed dreamily. "She's beautiful. She used to be pretty back in school, but now she's even prettier."

"Exactly," Fred nodded eagerly. 

Ron was just about to add some sort of 'I agree', but seeing his sister's expression, he thought better of it. "Of course my Hermione is much prettier. And your Angie, too, right?" he turned to the twins.

"Er… of course," Fred said. "So, Captain, are we going to train today or not?"

"Of course we are going to train!" Harry replied with sudden resolution. "On to the pitch, everyone, hurry up, move yourselves, there's no time to waste!"

"Harry?" Oliver turned to him.

"Yes?"

"You have learnt this from me, eh?"

"Of course, oh great slave-driver!" the Charms professor smirked and motioned Oliver to enter the pitch. After months of Quidditch-deprivation, Harry felt in his element again. He released the four balls, then mounted his '_Firebolt – The Special Edition'_ broomstick (the latest model of the Firebolt series. He had bought it after his old _Rocket 5000_ had burnt down in the fire devastating the Potter house – lucky that he had left his invisibility cloak at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays.) 

He took off. As the wind ruffled his hair, he felt all the worries escape from his heart. This was what he really enjoyed; this was what he had been missing so much. This was very likely the second best thing in the world, he thought, grinning. For the first time that day he managed to forget about the nightmares that had started to return in the last few days again. He had had these dreams back in autumn, but then they had ceased for a while and only returned days earlier. They were always the same: letters dancing in the air, a woman's voice tearing into the silence of the night – the woman was screaming, howling in pain, then came a green flash of light and everything went silent, and Harry woke up, drenched in cold sweat. He had tried and tried to remember more of the dream but he had never managed to – all he managed to do by straining his memory was to get a headache.

Now, however, all headaches and all nightmares were forgotten, only the joy of flying existed. Circling above the pitch, Harry watched as Ron and Ginny tried to score while Oliver saved. A Bludger whooshed past his ear, in tow with George – Fred was chasing the other one above the Slytherin stands. All the five of them seemed to be enjoying themselves tremendously. Something gold glinted around the goalposts at the other end of the pitch. Harry spurred his broom and fifteen seconds later the little golden ball was fluttering in his palm.

"Good catch, old boy!" Fred gave him the thumbs-up. "It seems you haven't totally forgotten how to play Quidditch yet!"

"Thanks!" Captain Potter grinned. "You've also been doing well, people! If Cho is going to be as good as you five are, we are going to win this match without the shadow of a doubt."

"We'd better," Ron grunted. "I couldn't stand if gits like Snape and Marcus Flint beat us… not to mention Mr. Goldilocks."

"Goldilocks?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Gilderoy," Harry waved, flying right next to her. "You know, honey, I have just realised something."

"Judging by your expression it must be something naughty," she perceived.

"Eh, perhaps," he grinned. "We have been together for thirteen years now, but there's something we've never done before."

She raised an eyebrow. "I thought we have already done everything."

"But not everywhere," he replied.

"Not everywhere? Hm, I seem to recall us doing _something_ in a Prefect's bathroom, on the teacher's desk in Hermione's Arithmancy classroom, in Durmstrang, in a Donald Duck armchair in the Mickey Mouse Hotel in Disneyworld, and…"

"There's still something we've never done."  

"What?" she cocked her head, giving him an impish look.

"This," he inched closer, giving her a searing kiss.

"You mean… making out on a broomstick?" she licked her lips as they parted.

"Yeah. I wouldn't try anything _else_ on a flying broomstick, though," he whispered and brushed his lips against hers again.

"Urgh, just tell me that this isn't the way you want to win the match against team B, Harry," Fred shouted, "kissing your way to the Snitch?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No. This was just a one-time spectacle. I have realised that I have never kissed my wife up in the air before and I had to make up for it immediately. And now, back to work, people!"

"Can't we rest a bit, boss?" Oliver asked. "We're not as young as we used to be… we need a bit of a rest."

"Don't tell me that you've become this lazy, my slave-driver friend," the captain said. "No rest."

"Can't we have lunch at least?" inquired George.

"No," came the captain's resolute answer.

"May I go and fix my makeup?" Ginny asked.

"Your what? You aren't even wearing…"

"Can I at least leave to the toilet?" Ron said with an innocent expression.   

"You're teasing me, aren't you?" Harry crossed his arms. 

"Of course we are, boss," Fred smirked. "All right, guys, let's do Captain Potter's bidding or we'll never beat Snape that yellow-toothed git."

"Yellow? Uh, you haven't heard yet, then?" Harry laughed.

"What?"

"Just wait. I'll show you at the tournament. Prepare for a shock."

* * * * *

"So, your dad and his team are training on the pitch right now?" Norbert asked Daniel. They were sitting by the lake, enjoying the wonderful spring weather. The boys were playing wizard chess, while Gilda was studying – very possibly for the May tournament quiz.

"Yeah," Dan nodded. "A pity that all students are forbidden to enter. Uh, queen to F5."

"Why did they forbid us to enter, I don't understand," young Malfoy pouted. "Knight to H3."

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Gilda said, not even looking up from her book. "They are out of practice and they fear that they'd become a laughing stock in front of the kids."

"My dad's no laughing stock!" Dan snapped. "He's the best Seeker in Great Britain!"

"He used to be, you mean," the girl replied calmly. "He stopped playing professional Quidditch last summer, didn't he?"

"Yes, but he's still the best non-professional Seeker," the boy defended his father.

"We'll see on 8th May," she shrugged and buried herself into her book called '_The most famous witches and wizards in England's history'._

"With this much studying you are surely going to win the quiz, Gil," Norbert perceived. "Bishop to…"

He couldn't finish the sentence because suddenly a shadow got cast over the chessboard. The three kids looked up to see Liu Chang.

"Hello, Dan," the girl smiled.

"Hullo, Liu," young Potter replied, happily realising that he hadn't blushed.

"What do you want?" Norbert asked.

"Today's my birthday," Ms. Chang said.

"Well, congratulations," Gilda snorted. She had never liked this girl – perhaps because Daniel had once liked her so much?

"It's great, happy birthday," Dan added.

"Thanks," Liu smiled. "In fact, my mum has come to Hogwarts and decided to arrange a small party for me. She's brought the biggest rice-tart from McRice and I was wondering whether you'd like to come to the party, Dan."

"Are my friends also invited?" the boy asked.

"Er…" Liu shuffled her feet, "this is a… private party with not too many people…"

"I see," young Potter nodded. "Thanks for the invitation, Liu, but I'm busy. Very happy birthday once more and give my regards to your mother."

"Well, thanks," Miss Chang forced a smile and left.

"I don't believe it!" Norbert gasped. "Dan, do you realise that you've just turned down the girl you have had a crush on since September???"

"I do," his friend grinned. "And I don't care."

Gilda cast a surreptitious glance at Dan, who, in the same instant also cast a surreptitious glance at her. Their eyes locked, and they blushed.

"Er," Dan looked away immediately, "pawn to E4."

* * * * *

Days flew by and everyone started to get more and more excited about the upcoming tournament and the parent-teacher match afterwards. You could barely hear the students talking about anything else but going for the title Champion or Queen of Beauty and Love.

While Gilda was reading book after book, Norbert kept practicing some basic charms that could come in handy in a duel. To both children's surprise, they never saw Daniel practicing any spells, although Dan had clearly stated that he'd enter the tournament. He told his friends that he could only practice alone, and he lied (quite reluctantly, because he didn't like lying) that he used to sneak out into the park and study there. 

In fact, Daniel kept visiting the secret chamber of Gryffindor and studying from Vivian Vablatsky's book on Imaginers. This book gave him much more detailed knowledge than Dumbledore's ancestor's diary. This book gave the description of highly advanced Imaginings as well and once in a while Daniel tried some of those, too. Certainly he didn't succeed in all of them, but the proverb says: 'knowledge has bitter roots but sweet fruits', and he was determined to harvest those fruits the sooner the better, thus he kept exercising. 

Three days before the beginning of the tournament, Harry asked his son for a man-to-man conversation in his study. Daniel was wondering what his father could want from him.

"I'm glad you have come," Harry motioned his son to sit down on the chair facing his desk. 

"Wow, you look serious, dad," the boy perceived. "What's the matter?"

"I just wanted to ask you something, Daniel," Harry said, his eyes skimming the boy's features, as though he wanted to look into is soul.

"What?" the boy shuddered. He didn't like it when his father looked at him like that. It gave him the creeps.

"It's about the tournament. Do you… do you intend to use your Imaginer powers?"

Dan shrugged. "It depends."

"On what?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"It depends on what I can accomplish without them," Dan replied. "You know… at first I didn't want to take part in this whole madness, but then Kevin kept making fun of me, and I felt I had to show him that I was more than he thought! I know it's probably not entirely fair to use powers that the others don't possess, but when is life fair?" he looked up at his father, his brown eyes deeply boring into his green ones. "Life has never been fair to me either, dad. Even you told me so. I was born a squib. I was a pathetic bungler even after I got magic powers. My classmates constantly laughed at me. I had to endure people's mocking from a very young age… I remember the twins, Kevin, Lance, and even Lily laughing at me when I screwed up at Uncle Fred's secret magic lessons… I was only five and I felt miserable."

"I had no idea," Harry frowned. Fred and George had been teaching the children magic tricks from a young age, but without Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione knowing. Harry had only got to know about it when Dan had already been nine years old and had one day asked him why he was such a bungler, why he never managed to do things his cousins did. "I never knew that you had such bad memories of being five years old. I'm sorry, Dan."

"It's okay, dad. It's not your fault, you did everything you could: you wasted a precious wish on me… and I'm grateful for that," the boy replied. Strangely to Harry, he looked much older than he really was. Then it struck him: this boy had suffered a lot, and the trials he had gone through had given him this inexplicable maturity. Sure, Daniel's childhood hadn't been as hard as his with the Dursleys, still, it was not a happy-go-lucky childhood… not that happy a childhood as he had wanted to secure for all of his children. 

Harry still remembered his feelings when he had got to know about Ginny's pregnancy with Lily. He had been scared to death, and not because of the scandal that was about to ensue, but about being a father. He had had no idea how to be one. He had never got love from his foster-parents, and hadn't known how to be a caring and loving father. All he had known had been that he'd have to try to raise his own children in a loving family, giving them everything he could. And yet, he felt that it had never been enough. He had been accusing himself when Dan was born a squib – he had been accusing himself of having passed the Evans-genes down to him – the Evans genes that had a knack of turning out non-magic children.

He had given his children everything in his power, but now he realised that he hadn't managed to make his son grow up as happily as he would have liked. Daniel had got a lot of love from him and Ginny, but lacking the talents his cousins possessed, the boy could never be really happy.

Harry felt ashamed. He should have realised this long before – he should have realised that his son, however happy he had looked as a little child, had always had some kind of a thorn in his heart that kept pricking him… Harry felt like kicking himself for having been so blind. He had believed Daniel to be as carefree and joyful as any other child, while he hadn't been. This boy had been hiding his sadness deep in his heart, not letting anyone catch a glimpse… but Harry, being his father, should have seen it!

He glanced at his son again - the boy was waiting for some kind of an answer to why he had come up with this 'do-you-intend-to-use-Imaginer-powers'-stuff…

He shook his head. He had asked his son to come here to make him swear not to Imagine stuff and play fair, but now he felt totally silly about it. His son had never had a real success in his life – at least not without his special powers. Harry knew what a useless, pathetic little wizard his son was without his Imaginer powers – he knew it from experience, and also his colleagues had told him about Daniel's bungling at their classes. Poor Daniel had grown up seeing others being so much more talented than him and longing to be like them… and now there was a chance for him to feel that he was just as good as the others, if not better. Harry knew that, as a teacher, he should be reprimanding the boy for taking advantage of his powers, but as a father he wanted his son to be successful. To feel satisfied with himself. To feel proud of himself. 

"I have heard a bit from Dumbledore about your progress," Harry spoke up, "but I haven't seen you Imagining anything intentionally yet. I'd like to see it, Dan."

The young boy's face lit up. "Really? So, you don't want to tell me off now?"

"No. Why would I? If there's one thing I have learnt during my seven years at Hogwarts, then it is to use the talents you have. Ron is talented in chess, so he defeated McGonagall's huge chess figures. Hermione is very clever, so she used her mind to solve Snape's riddle.  I'm talented in flying, thus I used my broomstick to outwit the Hungarian Horntail. You're an Imaginer. So Imagine."

"Thanks, dad," Daniel beamed. "I feel so much better about it now. You know, I have had pangs of remorse, but now I no more have them. You are right. Play to your strength. By the way, if we are talking about strengths… how is the Quidditch team coming along?"       

Harry told his son about the progress of team A. Allegedly, Cho Chang turned out to be just as talented a Chaser as she had been as a Seeker. 

Team B – under the captaincy of Neville Longbottom -, also kept training for the big day. Gilderoy Lockhart – one of team B's Chasers – could be seen/heard several times bragging about the wonderful performance of his team, and especially about his own talents as a Chaser. Harry had to hide a grin whenever they heard Gilderoy's self-appraisal – he still remembered Lockhart bragging how good a Seeker he had been back at school, and, knowing Lockhart, he suspected that he had never been a good Seeker and wouldn't be any better as a Chaser. The other two Chasers were Marcus Flint and his wife Blaize Zabini. Harry didn't know much about them, just that they had been in Slytherin and they had always seemed rather unsympathetic to him.

McGonagall was always scowling when her husband talked about the match – Aberforth would be playing Beater, along with Remus Lupin. Harry didn't mind having to play against Aberforth, because Aberforth was not exactly a person to be taken seriously, but he _did_ mind having to play against Remus. 

Ever since Halloween, the one time friends had been avoiding each other, and the few times they had met in the Great Hall or in a corridor, Remus had always given Harry a look of contempt and hurried past him, making Harry feel very, very miserable. Harry couldn't have counted how many times he had felt the temptation to go to his old friend and ask him to make up, but his pride held him back. Remus had called him selfish and stuck-up. He somehow managed to accept being called stuck-up, but being called selfish simply riled him up. It wasn't true and Lupin didn't have a right to call him that!

And finally, there was Severus Snape, the Keeper of Team B. Harry had only once seen him actually fly a broomstick – in his first year, when Snape had decided to referee Gryffindor's match against Hufflepuff. 

Speaking of Snape, he had changed. Harry had heard from his children and the Weasley kids that Snape wasn't bullying them that much in Potions anymore. Then, there was this tooth-thing that also made a difference… and finally there was the niffler. Harry still wondered why on Earth the children had decided to give Severus a present, and not merely a present, but a cute, cuddly pet! To add to Harry's confusion, Snape was seen quite a lot with his little niffler on his arm.     

Even Beryl Bradley started to think that she should maybe tell Severus about her real gender and her pregnancy. Whenever she saw him with Lucky the niffler, she found him incredibly endearing and thought that if he could treat a little creature so wonderfully, then he could become a superb father as well. Still, she didn't even have the chance to talk to him, because whenever he spotted her, he looked away and hurried past.

She put this down to their last encounter, when they had been kissing so passionately. *Severus must still be thinking that I'm a male and the fact that he has kissed me again and again must feel horrible for him. Poor dear,* she thought. She wished he would only stop for ten seconds on the corridor so that she could blurt out 'I'm a woman and I love you!', but no, he wouldn't give her the chance. It was a catch-22 situation: she couldn't tell him the truth because he wouldn't listen to her, but the reason why he wouldn't listen her was that he didn't know the truth.

* * * * *

"I tell you guys, we are going to beat Harry's team!" Aberforth said gleefully as he, Neville, Remus, Gilderoy and Snape left the pitch one evening after a training session. 

"Yes, I'm also sure about it, mate," Lockhart nodded happily, wiping some invisible dirt off his elegant navy blue robes. "Our captain is giving us quite a workout, though, don't you think?"

"I have to, if we want results," Neville replied.

"Oh, of course, that's why you had to make them chase all the Bludgers at me, right?" Snape pointed at the two Beaters: Lupin and Aberforth.

"I didn't make them send the Bludgers at you," Neville shrugged. "You should have kept a better look-out for them, then you probably wouldn't have been hit. But don't worry, I'm sure that your arm will heal soon, it wasn't a serious accident at all."

"Not serious, eh? Of course, it didn't happen to _you_, Longbottom," Snape growled, massaging his arm.

"Tell me, why are you being this… mean to me, Severus?" Neville asked. "I didn't hurt you."

"First, don't call me Severus, will you? Not when you are calling your _toad_ Severus, Longbottom!" the Potions Master spat.

"But… that's your name," Neville pointed out. "Anyway, whatever your problem with me is, _Snape,_ you'd better forget it until the match. We have to stick together if we want to be a team. If there's discord within the team, we won't be able to work together and we'll surely lose."

"Exactly," Remus said. "Do you want Potter's team to beat us? Yes?"

"No,." Snape hissed through gritted, flashy teeth. He seemed to be restraining himself from telling Neville something rude. "Good night to you all."

"He's grouchy about something," Gilderoy perceived, watching Severus hurry off to the castle. 

"Or maybe he's just been missing his cute little niffler," Aberforth commented. "I'd surely miss Lucky if he were mine. Come to think of it, I still have to feed Angel! G'night, people!"

Snape entered the castle, seething. What was Longbottom thinking of himself? Playing captain, commanding him around, and doing all this as though it were totally natural?!? 

*Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to play in this damned match!* he thought. There was no way he'd endure the one time blundering, cauldron-melting little Longbottom treating him like that! 

He was so much absorbed in his bitter thoughts that he didn't notice the caretaker rounding the corner.

"Uh, sorry!"

"Watch where you're going!" Snape growled, massaging his nose that he had bumped into Bradley's forehead.

"Hey, at least you're talking to me again!" Beryl's face lit up.

"Don't get delusions, Bradley, I'm not talking to you, I merely expressed my annoyance at having bumped into you of all people!" he shouted and turned on his heels to leave.

"Listen to me at last!" she called after him.

"Why?" he doubled back. "What do you want to tell me, eh? That you're a woman? That you have been lying to me all along? Well, you don't need to tell me, I already know!"

She blanched. "You… you know? How… how long?"

"A week," he replied. 

"Did… did Albus tell you?"

"Albus?" Snape blinked. "So, Albus _knows_?"

"Of course he knows! He knew it all along."

"Great. Just great. So he knew it and probably enjoyed himself very much when I told him how… disgusted I felt because I thought I had slept with a man!" Severus hissed. His eyes were sending fire-bolts at the caretaker. "How totally amusing – let's poor Sev believe that he's gay! Hahaha! What a joke! I bet you two were having a lot of fun!"

"No, Severus, let me explain…"

"No! I'm not interested in your explanations! You have taken me for a fool, you have humbled me, you have made an idiot of me in front of everyone else, and you have played with me, while you've been chasing after Longbottom!"

"What?" she didn't know whether to scowl or laugh. "Neville?"

"Ah, _Neville_!" he yelled. "Why not call him Nevviekins?"

She crossed her arms, glaring furiously at him. "You don't understand anything, and you'll never understand it if you don't even let me explain, Severus!"

"Don't call me Severus! To you I'm Professor Snape!"

"All right!" she stamped her foot. "Then listen to me, Professor Snape!"

"I don't care what you want to tell me! I don't care at all!" he turned on his heels to leave again.

"Wait, I just wanted to tell…" but he was already out of earshot. "…that I'm expecting your child," she sighed, leaning to the wall. A single tear ran down her cheek, but she wiped it away and drew herself up. "I'm not going to cry for you, Severus Snape. If you want to be an idiot, then I won't stop you."

* * * * *

The remaining week before the tournament was spent in the fervour of organising. Everyone seemed to be organising something, perhaps save for Professor Snape who was avoiding people – he was never seen outside class and meals. He must have been spending his time in his dungeon room with Lucky. 

Beryl Bradley and the bunch of house-elves who helped her, were cleaning the castle more diligently than ever before – it had to look perfect by the first of May, its millennium anniversary. 

Several dozen of architect wizards were working on the Quidditch pitch that would serve as the ground for the tournament. The students tried to get sneak views of the stadium but it was magically barricaded from their curious eyes. 

The only people allowed into the stadium were the members of the two adult Quidditch teams, but they were made to swear not to tell the students anything about the inners of the building.

Cornelius Fudge paid the school several visits the last week, checking on the work of the architects and discussing details of the event.

After the fiasco at the Halloween party, it had been agreed that no one else but the residents of Hogsmeade and the parents of the contestants were allowed to come - and only the magic parents. Some Muggle-borns took this as an evil discrimination, but even they had to admit that having freaking Muggles around would not do any good to the school and the festivity. 

A whole squad of hit wizards had been arranged to provide protection for the seven days of the tournament and the eighth day with the Quidditch match. This way there wouldn't be another spider attack or another memory charming. 

Some pupils expressed their annoyance at having to duel with a bunch of bodyguards around, but Dumbledore and McGonagall were relentless. They wanted the students and the visitors to be safe this time. There was no way they'd let Rhea Skeeter have another field day, criticising the lack of judgement of the Hogwarts stuff.

Harry, besides training diligently for the match, had volunteered to set up defence spells around and inside of the stadium. Aberforth helped him a lot – they had learned to work together on stuff like this back at Durmstrang when placing security charms for the tasks of the Triwizard Tournament.    

* * * * *

One evening after walking back to the castle from the stadium, Harry met Lily in a corridor. She wanted to get out of his sight, but he caught up with her.

"I want to talk to you."

"About what?" she asked. "If you want to reprimand me for the last time, don't waste your time. I feel so miserable about it that it's enough of a punishment."

A gentle smile spread on his face. "I don't want to reprimand you. Neither do I want to punish you. I just wanted to tell you that I wasn't mad at you, no matter what you said. I was just a bit sad that you felt that way. I love you, Lily. And I'm sorry that I didn't let you come to the wedding."

"No, it's okay, Harry. I understand," she hung her head and kept talking to her shoes. "You did it in my own interest… you didn't want people point at me and say that I'm being favoured just because I'm the great Professor Potter's daughter," she looked up with a feeble little smile. "Will you forgive me?"

"Only if you also forgive me," he said.

"'Course I do," she shrugged.

"Then c'mere," he gathered her into his arms. When they parted he was appalled to see tears in her eyes. "What's the problem, sweetie?"

"Nothing… and everything," she sniffed. "I feel so ashamed, Harry. I don't know what came over me last time…"

"Forget it, okay? I have already forgotten it. Here," he handed her a hanky. "I don't want you to look sad when everyone else looks happy."

"Oh… you mean the tournament."

"Yes. Aren't you happy about it?"

"Dunno. Should I be?"

"Well, I was hoping to see you going for the title Queen of Beauty and Love…"

She had to smile at this. "At first I wanted to go for it, then… I no more felt like it. But now I might change my mind."

"Good girl," he said. "I think you could be a very pretty Queen, Lily."

"Thanks, Harry," she blew her nose. "But… would you be mad at me if I didn't win?"

"Oh, you little goose," he shook his head. "Even if you don't manage to become Queen, you'll always be my little Princess." 

"Thanks, Harry," she stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Now I really feel that I have a father."

"Then wouldn't you call me dad?" he cocked his head, sending her a puppy stare. She barely could hold back the laughter that wanted to burst out of her: he was simply so cute. No other student in the school (besides her little brother) had a father so young.

"I'll try, dad. But it won't be easy. I've got used to calling you Harry."    

* * * * *

"I can't believe it's already 1st May," Daniel sighed, pushing the covers off himself and starting to dress up. Abu handed him his socks. "Thanks, Abu. Oh, I'm so excited! How exactly will the tournament go? Dumbledore didn't go that much into details, did he?"

"Nope," Norbert yawned, caressing the wings of his pet raven, Ivo. "All we know is that there will be seven days for the tournament, presumably one day for each year."

"Then… we are likely to go as first, right?"

"It's obvious, isn't it, hotshot?" Jerry Travers interjected. "By the way, Potter, how did it even occur to you to enter? I mean… back in September, you couldn't even conjure some decent sparks and now you think you're good enough for real wizard duelling? Aren't you afraid that you'll suck?"

"Not really," Dan shrugged while Abu gave Jerry a furious look. "I have learnt a lot since September and I'll show you."

"Can't wait," Donald Rookwood's ugly fox face tucked into a smirk. He seemed to be sure about Daniel's grim defeat.

"Really, you sound way too self-assured, Potty," added Iago Rosier. "Why this great confidence? Just because you managed to turn a mouse into a snuffbox? That doesn't make you a great wizard, you know."

"I never said I was a great wizard," Dan snapped. "Are you coming, Norbert? I'm dying of hunger."

On their way up to the Great Hall, they met several friends who looked just as excited as they were. The Weasley twins were chattering happily about winning the title of the Queen, and David Dursley was muttering incantations, very possibly exercising them for the duel. Kevin Weasley didn't miss the chance to give Daniel a remark similar to that of Dan's Slytherin dormitory mates, but Dan didn't mind. Today he'd show this self-conceited boy that he was a real wizard. He had learnt many spells in the last few months, even those, which weren't in the syllabus of the first-years, and Norbert seemed to be doing the same. They had spent a lot of time in the library searching for various disarming and disabling spells that they were likely to need today. Daniel had also sneaked down into Gryffindor's chamber as often as he could without waking his friends' suspicion. 

He felt better and better in this Imagining business and barely could wait to try his powers on his opponents. Maybe it wasn't exactly fair, but heck, he was a Slytherin! Whenever pangs of remorse assaulted him about using his advantages, he kept telling himself that the Hat must have had a reason to put him into Slytherin and a Slytherin shouldn't have such high morals.

On the other hand, even his father had approved of Imagining and Dumbledore hadn't told him with a single word not to enter the tournament, and that must have meant that Dumbledore didn't mind him Imagining stuff in order to win. Daniel had tried to Imagine things while saying incantations, so that it would look as though he had performed the spells in the normal wizard way – this way, he wouldn't wake anyone's suspicion. Of course he knew that he wouldn't be able to perform the spells without using his special talents, because he barely had normal magic in himself. About 90% of his magic talents was Imagining, and if he could imagine-transform a mouse, then it was just as good as if he had done it the official way. If he managed to make his Imaginings look like normal magic, it wouldn't hurt anybody. Oh yes, that was probably cheating, but as long as there were bastards like Kevin Weasley mocking him about being a bungler, he had to show that he wasn't.

Before entering the Great Hall, he met his father, who gave him the thumbs-up. This encouraged him a lot – his last conversation with his father came to his mind. Harry had told him to play to his strength. And that was what he'd be doing. 

With a grateful grin to Harry, Daniel hurried off to the table of Slytherin to see Gilda Lockhart already sitting there, deeply absorbed in a book.

"Still studying for the quiz, Gil?" Norbert asked, flopping down into a chair next to her.

"No. Dad told me that I had overworked, reading all those complicated books and I should relax – read something… lighter for a change. So I'm trying to relax."

"Hehe, why does it sound as strange from your mouth as it would from Aunt Hermione's?" Daniel smiled. "What 'relaxing stuff' are you reading?"

Miss Lockhart showed him the cover of her book: _'1001 magical hairdos'_ by Gilderoy Lockhart. "Dad's latest book, it hasn't come into the stores yet, I just got a copy beforehand. He even signed it for me," she said. "I'm sure it is going to be a hit."

"No doubt. Who would know more of hairdos than the great Gilderoy Lockhart?" young Malfoy smirked.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" Gilda frowned.

"No way," he laughed. "I'm making fun of your father."

"Oh… then it's okay," she giggled, casting a glance at her father who was sitting next to Harry Potter at the staff table, wearing lilac robes and unusually curly hair. 

"Wonder where Snape is?" Dan asked. The Potions Master was nowhere to be seen.

"Dunno. And don't care," Norbert shrugged, putting a lot of marmalade on his slice of bread.

"Beryl's here," Gilda pointed at the caretaker. "That means they cannot be together."

"I haven't seen them together for a long time," Daniel commented. "And it's strange, because they used to be inseparable back in autumn. They must be still angry at each other for some reason. I wonder whether Snape knows about the baby at all."

"No idea. But… it isn't even sure that Beryl's pregnant, is it?" the girl said. "I mean… we only saw her once being sick, but it could have been caused by something else… an indigestion or whatever."

"If it was an indigestion, then I'll eat Abu," young Potter said.

"And you'd be spitting furballs for a month," his friend laughed. "Really, imagine it, Dan!"

"I'd better not," Daniel grimaced. *Or it might come true,* he added in thought.

* * * * *

Albus Dumbledore was late for breakfast, since he had been tending to his phoenix that had a nasty cold. "Tut, tut, catching a cold in May!" Albus patted Fawkes' head and tied a shawl around the phoenix's long neck. "There, I must go now. Be a good boy."

He was about to exit his room when Severus Snape entered.

"Oh, good morning, Severus! Are you just as excited about today as I am?" the headmaster asked with a wide grin.

"Excited is not the right word, Albus," Snape grunted. "I have to talk to you."

"Oh, my, Severus, you frighten me. What does this glare mean?"

"Something's amiss, Albus. Seriously amiss."

"With the caretaker, again?" the headmaster gave the Potions master a quizzical look.    

"No, I have no problems with her anymore," Snape growled.

"_Her?_ So, you know then."

"Yes, I do, and I'd demand an explanation from you if it was the most important thing now. But it isn't."

"Of course it isn't, the most important thing right now is the tournament," Albus nodded.

"Not for me." 

"Oh, of course, how could I ever presume that you'd feel a little bit happy about an event like this!" the headmaster waved jovially. "I should be scolding myself for the sheer presumption, Severus."

"You still think this is funny, Albus, but it's not. Look," he rolled up his sleeve and showed Dumbledore his Dark Mark. It was as indistinct as ever, but the skin around it was burning-red. It must have been causing Snape great pains.

"Oh," Albus breathed. "I don't like this," tentatively he reached out and touched the Mark.

"Why, do you think I do?" Snape gritted his flashy teeth – Albus' touch must have hurt. 

"How long has it looked like this?"

"Not long. Probably two or three days. You remember what I told you back at Halloween? My arm had been aching dully ever since September. Then, after Halloween, the pain lessened a bit. It has just started to burn again and it's worse than ever before. Do you think that… _he_ has something to do with it?"

"I don't know, Severus," the old wizard shook his head and sank into his armchair, all his happiness and excitement about the upcoming tournament gone. "I seriously don't know. He cannot have returned, you know that. On the other hand… Tatyana Fiodrovna couldn't be making your hand ache…"

"Who?"

"Er, long story. It has nothing to do with you, you didn't even know her."

"But… who is she?"

"Who is she? Or rather who _was_ she," Albus said. 

"I don't understand a word," Snape replied.

"Neither do I, Severus. Neither do I. I think we should be going downstairs. I have to give the contestants instructions about the tournament. Come, Severus, and try to forget about your arm for a while. Keep smiling, Hogwarts is 1000 years old today," said the headmaster with an unusually sullen voice. 

As the headmaster entered the Great Hall, everyone fell silent. Even the buzzing of a fly could have been heard.

"Well," Albus smiled, "the big day has come. Our prominent school celebrates its thousandth birthday today. The staff has agreed that Hogwarts, as everyone who celebrates his birthday, deserves a birthday-cake," he clapped three times with his hands and a dozen elves appeared in the door, carrying a huge, four-tiered cake. Its lowest tier had red icing, the one above it was blue, the next one yellow, and the one on the top green. On the green tier there were four small figures: a lion, a badger, an eagle and a snake.  Around the three lower tiers exactly a thousand candles were burning – candles that never burned low and never started dripping wax. All of the house-elves were singing: _'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Hogwarts, happy birthday to you!'_

In the second the song ended, fireworks erupted from the little figures on the cake and zigzagged in the hall, bouncing off the ceiling, but not harming the students or the fabulous cake at all.

"Hey, Slytherin's tier is the smallest!" Kevin Weasley chuckled while applauding fervently. "And Gryffindor' the biggest!"

"But Slytherin's on the top," Vivian pouted. 

"I don't care for the colours, it looks marvellous!" Lily said. "I can't wait to taste it!"

"Do you think we'll be allowed to eat it?" Lancelot frowned.

"Of course, why else would they have baked it?" Valentine said. "Hehe, if all houses get their own tier, then the Slytherins will be fighting for each slice!"

Dumbledore raised his hand to silence the kids, most of whom were eyeing the tart, drooling.

"Certainly you will be able to taste this little beauty at dinner," said Albus, "but, before that, we have a whole day of excitement before us! Let me tell you the details. The tournament starts at ten o'clock with the speech of Cornelius Fudge," almost everyone groaned. "Ehm, try and sit it through, all right?" Dumbledore gave the students a grin. "So, the tournament will take place in the Quidditch stadium. The architect wizards have put expanding charms on the stands, so don't worry, every student and every guest will be able to see everything. The other professors and I decided to let the first-years learn a bit from the older students' performances, so today will be the day of the seventh years, tomorrow the sixth years come, and so on and so on."

A loud murmur ran down the hall. Most of it was disappointed groans – clearly, the first years had been prepared for a fight for today, and the seventh years had thought that they had six more days to practice. Well, Dumbledore seemed to have upset their plans.

"Oh, I can't believe it! Six days! I wanted to get it over with today!" Daniel sighed, furiously eyeing the thousand burning candles on the cake.   

"I for one am happy about it. No worrying for a while, we can enjoy watching the others screw up!" Norbert commented.

"I like to have such things behind me," Dan shrugged.

"You said you weren't worried at all, so why this 'let's get it over with' now?" Gilda asked, propping her chin on _'1001 magical hairdos'_.

"Nothing," Dan shrugged.

"Let me continue," the headmaster spoke up. "We have exactly 141 seventh-year students, 68 of which are males and 73 females. To my great delight 32 male students have decided to go for the title Champion today, and 25 girls will be fighting for the title Queen of Beauty and Love. Now, how will all this go? Let me start with the explanation of the girls' contest. Right after the breakfast is cleared from our plates, those 25 ladies please stay in the Great Hall – you'll be getting a quiz of fifty questions. You will have thirty minutes to fill in the test and the ten ladies having the best results will go for the second round that will take place after lunch."

"Will we be filling out another form, Professor?" a seventh-year Ravenclaw girl put up her hand.

"No, you will be taking part in a real quiz show in the second round – you'll be getting questions from Professor Weasley and the one who sends up green sparks as the first, will be allowed to answer the question. I trust most of you know how Muggle quiz shows work, don't you?" Albus saw that many students nodded their heads. "Excellent. And finally, the three ladies with the best results will go for the third round that will take place in the Quidditch stadium at sundown. We aren't telling you yet what kind of questions you'll be getting then, let it remain a surprise. And now," he gave the students a jovial smile, "let me give you the details of the wizard duels. There will be a draw to decide who will be paired off with whom for the first duel. The winners of the first duel will be paired off again and again, until there will be only two contestants left. The winner of those two will be today's Champion who will be crowned by today's Queen. Is everything clear?"

"Not totally, Professor!" a seventh-year Slytherin boy (as far as Dan knew, a second-cousin of Millicent Bulstrode) shouted. "You haven't told us the rules. What is allowed in a duel and what isn't?"

"It's very simple, Mr. Bulstrode," replied Dumbledore. "You may not use _Expelliarmus_. If you rid your opponent of his wand right away, where would be the fun? You may not stupefy your opponent or cast _Petrificus Totalus_ on him, because that would also end the game in a second. Besides these you may use any spells, hexes, jinxes and curses, with the exception of the Unforgivable ones. Any more questions, anyone?"

There were no more questions. All students left the Great Hall, save for the seventh-year female contestants who received their parchments with the fifty questions.

Daniel and his two friends headed for the Quidditch stadium. It was only nine o'clock, but the sooner they took place on the stands, the better seats they got. 

Not for nothing had the architect wizards been working on the stadium for days – it looked marvellous. The spitting image of a medieval tournament-pitch. There were colourful banners swimming in the air everywhere on the stands, there was a top box situated in the Hufflepuff stands – it had about twenty seats for some teachers and prominent guests. There was a tent-like thing built over the top box to protect the spectators from the harmful rays of the Sun, or – in case of rain – from getting soaked to the skin. However, Hogwarts' meteorologist, Sybill Trelawney, hadn't forecast rain for the next week, to some people's great relief and other people's unhappiness (the latter never believed in Sybill's predictions and were quite sure that if she forecast sunny weather, then there would be a hailstorm.)

The tournament must have been sponsored by Gringotts bank, because there was a huge screen above the entrance, advertising the wizard bank's wonderfully favourable interest rates and credit possibilities. 

Several wizards could be seen dressed up as medieval pages and jesters with fool's caps. They were employed by Dumbledore to serve wizard sweets, just like popcorn was served at a Muggle football match. They were pacing among the rows of seats with a tray suspended from their necks – a tray full of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties.

Some of the witch-guests had put on long, pointed hats with veils hanging from it (a very popular piece of clothing in the Middle Ages) and dresses that had long gone out of fashion – one of them strongly resembled Ron's old frilly dress robes.

There were even some wizards with trumpets and lutes. The ones with the lutes kept entertaining the crowd till ten o'clock with singing various medieval songs, just like minstrels.         

Daniel saw several familiar faces among the guests. There was for example Draco Malfoy, sitting next to Gabrielle Delacour. Draco seemed to be sizing up Gringott's huge advertisement with a sour expression suggesting _'it should have occurred to me instead to advertise here!'_

There was Cho Chang, too. Some of her employees at McRice were working here now, serving magical sweets. Madame Rosmerta was also present (with Sirius) – she must have thought that no one would want to visit theThree Broomsticks when there was a tournament at Hogwarts. At least she had made a good deal when agreeing to sell Hogwarts two hundred barrels of butterbeer.

Daniel waved at his mother and younger siblings. He suspected that little Lea would have to be taken back to the Potter house after lunch, because small children like her couldn't sit through the whole day. Harry was sitting next to Ginny in the Gryffindor stands.

Dan was just about to ask Gilda why she was still studying _'1001 magical hairdos'_ when Lily appeared next to the three friends. "Norbert, could we talk… in private?" she asked.

"Er… do you mind?" the boy asked Dan and Gilda.

"Not at all. We'll reserve your seat." 

"What does she want from him?" wondered Dan as his sister and young Malfoy disappeared into the crowd.

Not far from the Potter parents sat Ron and his son Rupert. He was in deep conversation with Professor Longbottom's wife whose name Daniel didn't know. She seemed nice enough, though.

Mrs. Figg (who had brought two of her cats) was chatting with Minerva and Aberforth in the top box.

As Lily Potter passed by the Ravenclaw stands with Norbert, she had no idea that they were getting murderous glances from Christopher Wood and David Dursley.

"What are you looking at like that?" Yvette snapped at her boyfriend.

"Uh, nothing, dear," Chris replied, though he followed Lily with his eyes until she disappeared out of sight. 

"And you, Dave?" demanded Circe Diggory, David's girlfriend.

"Huh?" young Dursley shuddered. "Oh, nothing. I just thought that this Malfoy guy wasn't the one for my cousin. Circe, dear, you're her best friend, couldn't you talk to her about this?"

"Ah, I have tried," Miss Diggory waved indignantly. "She doesn't listen to me. She told me that even her father had expressed his disapproval about her relationship with Malfoy, but she didn't care," she leant closer to her boyfriend. "Either she wants to make Wood jealous, or she's really in love with this Norbert."

"That would be a shame, if she loved him. He's just a baby, after all!" David protested. 

"Well, not everyone can be as masculine as someone I know," Circe giggled and kissed him on the cheek, making him forget all about Lily and Norbert.

* * * * *

"Am I hallucinating, or is that really Snape there in those dark green robes?" George Weasley asked from Harry after he, Fred and Angelina had joined the Potters in the Gryffindor stands.

"No, you're not hallucinating," Harry grinned. 

"But… what happened to him?" Fred gaped. "He looks so…"

"Sexy," Angelina sighed, ogling the Potions Master whose hair seemed unusually clean and whose teeth glittered in the May sunshine (even though he wasn't smiling, just talking to Draco Malfoy). 

"Angie!" both Fred and George gasped. "You don't mean it!"

"Oh… it must be the pregnancy," Harry smiled. "I bet Angelina isn't feeling too well."

"But I am!" the woman replied. "And Snape really looks good! Oh my gosh, I never thought the day would come when I'd be saying something like this!"

"Then what will you say when you hear about Valentine's timetable?" Harry smirked.

"Why? What's up with it?"

"Um… let me just say that nowadays Snape is Hogwarts' new Casanova, not Gilderoy Lockhart."

* * * * *

"So, what did you want to discuss with me?" Norbert asked Lily as they left the building.

"I wanted to talk to you about us," the girl answered. "Or, put it this way: I wanted to tell you that there's no more an 'us'."

"I thought there was," he said with a sour expression.

"Maybe you were wrong. Maybe I was wrong, too," she pursed her lips. "Listen, Norbert, I have been thinking a lot since the day dad caught us in the Astronomy Tower."

"Oh, so he managed to convince you that you shouldn't be going out with me," the boy looked very disappointed.

"No, he didn't. But my discussion with him made me start to think stuff over… and he was right. I'm not in love with you. Never was. I… I don't know what got into me back at Christmas when you first kissed me… or on Valentine's Day… I wasn't in my right mind. I suppose… I suppose I should be giving this back to you," she pulled the gift necklace out of her robes. "If it's a break-up, then let it be a proper one."

"No… no, keep it, please. It is, as I said back on Valentine's Day, a gift from a friend to a friend. I… understand that you're no more my girlfriend, or never really were, but… keep it. I couldn't do anything with it, it symbolises the sky at the time of _your_ birth," he reached out, gently took her hand and guided the necklace back into her robes. "I want you to have it."

"All right," she nodded. "Can we… can we still be friends?"

"Of course," he sighed. "Though, if truth be told, I don't understand why you chose exactly today to break up with me."

"Because I knew that today Daniel would be much more interested in the tournament than in you and me having a private discussion."

"Clever girl," he gave her a sad smile and turned around to head back for the stadium.

"Norbert!" she called after him.

"Yeah?"

"I like you. I truly do," she walked up to him, gazing deeply into his eyes. "I don't know why, but I felt something between us from the first moment I saw you, and I still feel this tie. I don't know what it is or whence it came from, but… it exists."

"And is it good or bad?"

"I don't know," she shook her head. "But I intend to find out. So… you'll just have to stay my friend, so that I have an opportunity to find out."

"Okay," he nodded. "But now let's go back if we don't want Dannie and your dad to be mad at us."

**A/N:** you might be wondering how I got the numbers of students taking part in the seventh-years' championship. Well, since Rowling said that there were about 1000 students at Hogwarts, I thought that there had to be around 140 students at each year. I frequently visit a Hungarian HP forum in which we have debated the number of Hogwarts students a lot, but I tend to believe that there are 1000 students at Hogwarts. (I remember that when posting TGSiHH someone wrote me a rather nasty review yelling that I got the numbers wrong. I didn't want this to happen again, so that's why I started explaining it :)

_jasper:_ glad you do :)

_Black Ice_: I understand, then. Well, it's both a 'made up person shock' and a 'real person shock'. Don't ask me to explain it now, you'll understand when the time comes. Sorry 'bout the lack of house-elf grammar, it's hard enough for me to try and write the English grammar as well as I can, I can't pay attention to everything :)

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: nooo, Beryl doesn't walk in on Snape while he's rummaging through her undergarment :) Your theory about Tatyana is really imaginative.

_maureen_: yes, Dumbledore will find out about the chamber. Wow… you remember the mysterious voice. Not many people did! 

_Lavendar Brown_: don't worry, Snapie will be happy at the end! I also think he needs to be loved, he didn't get much love throughout his life.

_Indigo Ziona_: Percy as the heir of Slytherin? Hahaha, that's cool. You should write an AU fic called "Percy Weasley and the Chamber of Secrets" :) Yeah, Snape's mum's so nice to knit him a new jumper every year :D I agree, never go for the first suspect!

_The Millenium One_: and what do you think is happening to Lily besides turning into a woman? Hmmmm?

_Katrina:_ and you'll get even more confused before I tie up all the interwoven lines of the story. Aaron and Desideria? Nooo! They're nice people! They helped Harry get his powers back, remember? 

_Houou_: don't call poor Snapie an ass! ;)

_SiriDragon:_ glad you liked the niffler. 

_candycaneOgram_: yes, I know that my writing has improved a lot since I wrote TGSiHH :) The nifflers are just there for fun and cuteness :) What? The Malfoy elves all dying of influenza? LOL, that's funny! But no, they didn't have the flu, neither did they leave Lucius. Draco doesn't really like his dad. Well, the Malfoys will be sort of happy at the end. Why did Godric's son never find out about the chamber? As I have mentioned in the last chapter, any kind of accident might have happened to the owl carrying the message about the chamber – the owl might have got attacked by an other bird of prey or something. The reason why Godwin didn't get to know about the chamber isn't important, only the fact that he didn't know about it. 

_Beauty in Disguise_: well, strange things are happening to Lily. Draco and Gabie will surely get together.

_Altec_: no, Trelawney's prediction in TGSiHH only referred to the fact that Voldemort would kidnap Lily and want to make the Potion of Eternity with her blood. It has nothing to do with Lily's current 'madness'. I know what you mean: really most authors gloss over writing the emotions of pregnant teens. I think I didn't really go into details when I wrote Ginny being pregnant, but at least I wrote Harry's emotions quite thoroughly. I thought that students didn't leave the castle for Easter. *shrugs* Anyway, it was necessary for the plot to assume that students weren't allowed to leave Hogwarts at Easter – otherwise Lily couldn't have fallen out with her dad.

_BigDaddy753_: what else would Snape think when he sees a pic of Neville in Beryl's room? I think it's fun that he misunderstands things. I particularly loved this kind of misunderstanding in Return of the Jedi when Han thinks that Leia is in love with Luke :)

_Alexander Phoenix_: I don't think that students go home for the Easter holidays, at least the trio never does, in none of the four books, and Rowling never mentions anyone going home for Easter. 

_PheonixFire_: Tatyana's spirit possessing Lily? Hm… you're very imaginative, you know. No, the goat story won't impede my updating of this fic. You'll be getting one chapter of this one and one chapter of that one every week for three weeks – so two chapters from me a week, a real treat! :)

_2Coolio:_ I hope you did your English term paper okay! :)

_VegaKeep_: yep, and more trouble to come.

_apple-pie:_ Snape will get to know the truth about Beryl and Neville in chapter 27. Glad you liked the niffler part :)

_Lupin's Angel_: yes, I also had to think of my David Dursley when I read the news about Rowling's baby! :D What? You actually like Lucius? Hm… interesting. You gave interesting theories again, but they aren't right :)

_Bucky_: more Dan/Gilda in chapter 25, 26 and 30. No, Snape won't try and kill Neville, but he's mad at him, as you've seen in this chapter as well.

_romina_: glad you liked the drawing, and thanks for wanting so much to review! :D According to some people you can find the American cover of OotP on the site of amazon.com. I saw it in a Hungarian HP forum where someone linked it. You have a shrine to HP? LOL. Of course, do send me some photos, thanks!

_Wood's secret lover_: certainly Rowling wouldn't do such a thing as to call her son Harry or Ron :) She named him David.

_Lioness-07863:_ I didn't count the candles on the OotP cover, but if you say that there's 12 of them, I believe you. Yes, I also noticed that the room was round, so I also thought that it might have been Dumbledore's office. Thanks for the Niffler you gave me, it has already ruined my house ;)

_AmandaPanda_: yes, I also feel sorry for poor Sev :)

_Mistri_: you said you had asked a question that I have never answered. I think I must have forgotten. Ask it again, and if I can, then I'll answer it :)

_Lana Riddle_: I will :)

_C-chan_: I have never played with a HP game yet. About Lucius… you might be right. I hope you'll be able to eat jellybeans at Easter. I have never had braces. Hey, I've read the part you wrote for Indigo Ziona, it was sooo cool! I found it very funny that Draco's favourite day was Friday because they had Potions, and the Pansy thing was also a nice touch. Jaffar being his fave Disney character? LOL. I loved the way Hooch took 20 points from Slytherin after Snape had taken 20 points from Gryffindor! You're very imaginative, C-chan, double kudos to you! :D

_seashell_: I loved your recipe, LOL. Very imaginative. Yes, it'd be nice to see the back-cover of the OotP book as well, but perhaps it'd tell us too much, that's why they didn't show it?

_Mage_: no duel between Snape and Neville, but Snape was quite hostile to Nev in this chapter, wasn't he?

_Tap Dancing Widow_: there'll be more of the good things in Severus' life soon :)

_Sky_: I'm sorry to hear that you are also ignored by your father :(

_Myr Halcyone_: I don't think that Harry looks way too young on the cover of GoF. Well, he looks young for a 14-year-old, but JKR always said that he was a small boy and I always assumed that he looked younger than his actual age. I think Harry has a haunted expression on the cover of OotP. I doubt that Rowling would openly talk about sex in OotP, even if Harry has turned fifteen. I think he'll carry on pining for Cho or he'll fall for Ginny (I hope so), but we surely won't get descriptions about his first erection, not even a hint at that, because if Rowling wrote something like that, she'd be skinned alive by those Christians who already yell at her for having written such an 'unholy' thing as Harry Potter. No, the baby unicorn won't be used for a Potion, she'll be just around to provide some cuteness for the story. Bedspread??? What do you mean by that? Hahaha, flushing Dan down the toilet made me rotfl. I'll try and not get myself blown up here, I also want you all to read the rest of the fic, so that I can laugh wickedly when you yell at me after certain nasty chapters ;)

_Punky Poet_: glad you like my Snape :D

_ArgiCallista_: Snowball the kitten doesn't come from Stuart Little (I haven't even seen/read Stuart Little), it comes from the Roxanne movie. Of course there might have been a cat called Snowball in Stuart Little, but I only knew about the one in Roxanne.

_Toby Haine_: glad to see you again! I was afraid you wouldn't write me anymore. I was already getting mad and worried – mad because you hadn't kept your word, and worried that something might have happened to you. That would have sucked, Toby, you're such a great friend :)

_Inken_: I think the fact that he'll be a father will be bigger a shock for Sev than getting to know that Beryl is related to Neville. Well, Norbert does like Lily, and Dan sort of knows that those two are 'together' (he might have heard from others who had seen Norb and Lily snogging on Valentine's Day – Harry had also known about it, although he hadn't seen it). But now their relationship is over. Or is it? 

_Makayla P_.: what was the surprise you got? It's cool that your English teacher loves HP. I must admit that the reason for me reading the HP books was a comment of my Communications teacher. She told us to write complaining letters to a travel agency, and she loved mine so much that she read it out for the class, and added: "see, I'm sure that even Harry Potter was made up in a Communications class!" And I thought: "If this teacher likes HP, I should probably read it." So it's her fault that I became obsessed with Harry! It's nice that you have your own room – I never had an own one, there aren't enough rooms in our flat :(

_Nefertiri_: I'm glad your computer didn't freeze! Well, Beryl didn't deny her sex. Voldie and Tatyana? Hm… not really. You'll find out about Lily's problem in chapter 28. Yes, the baby elf will be born in the story. Who tore out the page? Well, you'll find out in chapter 28. You loved Lily/Norbert? Sorry... I had to make them break up. I fear I can't tell you the end of Albus' joke – we should ask Rowling, perhaps she knows it :) The goat story will have three chapters. No problem, your review wasn't that long :D

_Lady Schezar:_ no, Lucius didn't do that. But you really like him? Hm… I don't. He was cool in the movie, but I don't like him in the books. 

_xaebhal: _you'll get to know who set the house on fire in chapter 28. The same stands for the one who made Gilda poison Harry and Remus. As for Tatyana… you'll find out in chapter 29. 

_notebook girl_: I'm sorry that I haven't heard Ode to HP yet. But its text is really cool, I've read it.

_ArgiCallista:_ yes, Cho and Liu are sort of players. May I ask something: where does your name come from? The only Callista I know was in the Star Wars sequel books, she was a long deceased Jedi whose spirit Luke Skywalker fell in love with.

_heavenly182angel:_ I don't intend to change the rating, since most R-rated fics here on ffnet have real sex in them, while mine doesn't and will never have. I tend to imply that people had/will have sex, but I never go into details. My short story (Starry Night and Racoon Bite) is a real R-rated fic, but this one isn't – IMHO. Look at some other R-rated fics, e.g. the fics of Leila B or webba, those are definitely R-rated, because they have sex, however TGEEF is far from those in that respect. 

_goldenstar555:_ you'll get to know what's going on with Lily in chapter 28 :)

_romina_: well, Snape is a real dupe and doesn't let poor Beryl tell him!

_Red Ridding Hood_: I'm glad you got a new PC and you have no trouble reviewing anymore :)

_Autumn Dreams_: I imagined Snape's mum a bit like Mrs Weasley – knitting jumpers for Severus, even adding his name on them ;)

_Laina:_ glad you liked the Mr/Miss Bradley thing :D

_Inigma:_ sorry, but there won't be a sequel to this fic. But I promise you that I won't stop writing, after I read OotP, I'll come out with a totally new fic based on the new knowledge that I acquired from the fifth book.

_Disturbed Chic_: sorry, perhaps this update wasn't that quick… but I started uploading my goat story, and wanted to leave some days between the two uploads.

_Lady Marie_: thanks a lot for reviewing. It always makes me happy to hear that my writing style has improved a lot :) You really thought that Bert/Beryl was a guy with STD? LOL! Don't worry about Ginny's miscarriage, she'll be happy again soon *wink, wink* I'm not going to do a sequel after this one, but I'll surely write other stories about Harry and Ginny, and of course I'm doing outtakes and asides, just like _Starry Night and Racoon Bite_, and _Gadding with Goats_ (also here on ffnet, it you haven't read them yet, check them out).

_ruffled owl_: aha, so that's why you found it Star Warsish… there'll be several SW references in chapter 27, be prepared! :)

_Hermione We@sley_: glad you found it amusing :D

_Rose_: no, I haven't read the Mists of Avalon, but about two weeks ago I saw a two-episode film with the same title on a German TV channel. Julianna Marguiles played Arthur's sister Morgain. Are we talking about the same story? Well, just to assure you: I haven't taken anything from that book, because when I wrote this fic, I didn't even know that it existed :)

_Shazzman_: glad you liked the Niffler part. I for one have nothing against Draco, I kind of like him.

_Lily_: I'm glad you think it's suspenseful, it'll get even more suspenseful soon :D

_Colibi_: a niffer is a small, furry black creature with a lot of whiskers, I have always imagined it like a bigger version of a mole ;)

_Kit Cloudkicker_: is the Usual Suspects a movie? I haven't seen it.

_njprincessky:_ perhaps. Can't reveal it yet :) You'll get your answers in chapters 28-29.

_Katie Bell:_ yeah, I wouldn't talk to my parents like that, either ;)

_CloverWeave_: I'm happy you think this is one of the most suspenseful stories you've ever read… and I don't dare imagine what you'll say a couple of chapters later, LOL :)

_figgiesblazin:_ glad you liked it. Sent you the pic.

_Princess Ginny_: congrats on winning! :D You'll get to know what's up with Lily in chapter 28.

_Amaranta_: well, since Harry, Ron and Hermione never went home for Easter, I thought they weren't allowed. And also, the school rules might have been changed since they were at school ;) I'm glad your friends like TGSiHH! You'll find out about Lily in chapter 28. You'll have a bit of Draco/Gabie in the next chapter. Their meeting-talk at Aberforth and McGonagall's wedding was taken from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (its book version, since it was cut out of the movie).


	24. Out of Control

**A/N:** I'm spoiling you, did you know? I posted Goat2 yesterday, and I'm posting this one today. I hope you appreciate the quick updates! :)

**Chapter 24**

**Out of control**

The only drawback of the whole day was having to listen to the stupid (and 36 minutes long) tirade of the Minister for Magic. Daniel had fallen asleep during it, but got awoken by the sound of a dozen trumpets indicating that Albus Dumbledore was about to start the tournament.

"Oh, good, then Fudge has finished blabbering," Dan rubbed his eyes to chase away the last remains of drowsiness – he didn't want to miss a single second of the duels. 

The tournament was probably the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

The first round with eighteen couples duelling took three whole hours. By the time it was finished, the Quidditch stadium was full of moaning and whimpering seventh-years trying to stop their noses from bleeding or cradling broken arms. Dumbledore must have prepared for this, given that a dozen of mediwizards had come from St. Mungo's to help out Madame Pomfrey with the casualties. 

"That was bloody brilliant, wasn't it?" Norbert said as they walked back to the Great Hall for lunch and the seventh year girls' quiz show.

"I'd rather say it was just bloody," Daniel shrugged.

"I don't really care about the duels, I'm more interested in the quiz," Gilda commented. "It will be fun and Professor Weasley will surely be a terrific game show host."

The guests who had been present at the stadium weren't allowed into the Great Hall for the quiz, because it was full enough with the students, not to mention that the staff table had been moved aside to give room for a small stage. On the stage there were ten small podiums in a semi-circle facing a higher podium.

This time no student seemed to be really interested in lunch – everyone was excited about the quiz, especially because many of the pure-blooded wizards and witches had never seen such a thing before. 

After lunch, McGonagall read out the names of the ten best-performing girls and they climbed up to the stage to get further questions from Hermione. 

Dan was enjoying himself quite much, especially when the contestants told wrong answers. The three best were two Ravenclaw and one Gryffindor witches. They'd be playing in the third round right before sundown.

After lunch, everyone rushed back to the Quidditch pitch for the second round of the duels. This round seemed to be even ruder than the first one – these sevenths years (especially the Slytherins) really seemed to know some tricky curses.

"Dumbledore was right. We _could _learn from these," Daniel said, ogling a Hufflepuff boy being dragged off the pitch by mediwizards.

"I for one don't want to see you doing stuff like this, Dan," Miss Lockhart said. "On the other hand – you wouldn't be able to perform these curses at all."

Daniel felt a great desire to tell her 'but of course I could', but held himself back. 

After the second round, six male students were chosen as the best – they'd combat for the title of Champion right after the girls' final round.

The third round of the females turned out to be even more interesting than the second one: the three best-performing girls were given three questions and the one being able to give the wittiest answers was the winner. These questions weren't based on academic knowledge they had acquired at Hogwarts, these were questions testing how quick-working their minds were and how clever answers they could give for tricky questions. The winner was a Ravenclaw, to everyone's not so big surprise. She wasn't pretty at all, she had glasses and pimples (reminded Dan of Moaning Myrtle a bit), but she got named Queen of Beauty and Love and got the right to crown the winner of the final duel, who was a Gryffindor (equally pimply with large front teeth).

"Two of a kind, I see," Norbert whispered to his friends. Dan chuckled, but Gilda gave him a reprimanding look.

"Just because they don't look like Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones, they can be really great."

"They don't look like who and who?" Norbert raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind, Muggle stuff," the girl waved, then directed her attention back to the crowning ceremony: the bespectacled Ravenclaw girl sat on some kind of a throne, the winning champion walked up to her, then fell to his knees. The Queen rose to her feet and placed a wreath of golden laurels on the boy's head. The boy gave her a huge grin, all his huge front-teeth showing.

"My, they've fallen in love with each other," Norbert wrinkled his nose.

"Love doesn't depend on looks, when will you learn that, huh?" Gilda scowled.

"Oh, yes, it does," young Malfoy retorted.

"Leave him," Dan leant to the girl and whispered into her ears, "he's just grouchy because Lily has broken up with him."

"I heard that!" Norbert huffed. "And she didn't break up with me! We have never really been in a relationship!"

"Glad to hear that. I wouldn't want my sister having little Malfoys any time soon."

"Ha-ha," his friend grunted.

"Cheer up, Norb, we are finally going back for dinner and we'll get to taste that fabulous tart!" Gilda said.

The cake was indeed very delicious, and – to Kevin's horror – it wasn't handed around according to the colours of the houses – he and the other Weasleys (and about half of the Gryffindors) were given slices with green icing.

"I'm not eating a Slytherin-coloured cake!" Kevin fumed and pushed his plate away from himself.

"Then you shouldn't be eating salad, spinach, kiwi and green-apples, too," Lancelot pointed out. "They're all Slytherin coloured."

Kevin gave him a 'shut-up-if-you-don't-want-me-to-break-your-nose' stare.

"Okay, okay, I just wanted to point it out to you," Lancelot shrugged. "Say, if you're not eating your slice, can I have it?"

His cousin gave him a 'dream-about-it' glance and pulled the plate back to himself.

* * * * *

The next five days passed in similar mood, with the exception that there was no cake left after the Hogwarts Birthday Party.

The staff seemed to have worked a lot on organising the events, because every evening at dinner there was something new to see or listen to, for example Celestina Warbeck; a comedian group playing the parody version of a wizard drama called Pride and Polyjuice; and even the music group called Wacky Wizards made some disco-feeling on the fourth day. 

The fifth day was special for Daniel, since some of his relatives and friends were in third year and competed that day.

"I still can't believe that I've become Queen!" Lily Potter beamed at her little brother that evening before dinner. Her eyes were brimmed with tears and Dan had to admit that she looked really very pretty in the Queen's attire (a peach-coloured long, sweeping silk gown and a tiny crown made of sparkling crystals). 

David Dursley – winner of the day's duel and the holder of the title Champion in the third year – kept casting dreamy glances at the beautiful queen, only to be nudged back to reality by Circe Diggory, his girlfriend. Yvette Weasley also needed to nudge her boyfriend, Christopher Wood, back into reality, since the boy had set his eyes on Lily and didn't seem to want to divert his stare ever since Lily had become Queen of Beauty and Love.

Harry was very proud of his daughter and cousin David. It was still hard for him to believe that someone who had come from the Dursley family could prove to be so very talented a wizard. 

"So, my little Princess has become a Queen, eh?" he turned to Lily with a huge grin.

"Don't call me _little_ princess in front of everyone, dad," she blushed.

"As you wish, Your Majesty," Harry bowed playfully. "Would your Majesty give me the honour of this dance?"

"Certainly, good sir," Lily laughed and let Harry lead her to the dance floor – this night a famous Austrian wizard band was playing Strauss waltzes.

"Don't you want to ask me for a dance?" Gilda pouted at the Slytherin table, watching everybody else dancing.

"Which one of us?" asked Norbert and Daniel in chorus.

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I just thought that at least one of you would be gallant enough to ask me. Oh well, it's late already. I go upstairs, I still want to study a bit for the day after tomorrow."

"Still studying? Mental, that one," Norbert whispered to his friend as the girl left the table.

"Perhaps. But maybe she's right. If she wins the quiz, then it was worth to study that much," Dan shrugged. "I just hope that tomorrow Yvette _won't _win the title of the Queen."

Yvette didn't, which only made Christopher Wood appreciate Lily Potter even more, to Yvette's utter disgust.

* * * * *

Finally the big day had come for the first-year students, too.

Daniel hadn't slept too much the previous night – he was feeling nervous. It was strange, though, because on the first of May he hadn't been feeling nervous and had managed to have a good-night's sleep, although he had believed that day to be the day of their battle. Probably the reason for his nervousness was the fact that now he wasn't facing the unknown – he _knew_ what to expect, and it was rather unnerving. He would have rather faced the unknown, then he wouldn't have needed to feel jittery. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't seen all those rude battles… He simply didn't feel like being dragged off the pitch by mediwizards. Norbert tried to calm him, saying that first-years usually didn't know curses to really harm each other, so there was nothing to worry about. Still, Daniel did worry.

"Cheer up, Dan! You still have an hour before the first round!" Gilda told him. "Eat something, you'll need your strength."

Young Potter forced only two or three small chunks of pumpkin pasties down, but left the Great Hall with the feeling of the pasties tap-dancing in his stomach. He and Norbert wished Gilda good luck for the fifty-question test, grabbed their broomsticks and headed for the pitch.

"Why does it seem so much less pretty today?" Dan asked his friend who was clutching at the handle of one of the Slytherin team's broomsticks. The stadium looked exactly the way it had the previous days, but somehow it seemed to be formidable to the boy now.

He caught a glimpse of his mother, father and siblings madly waving at him from the Gryffindor stands. He forced a smile and waved back, trying to look very brave, then entered one of the changing rooms.

To his great relief, Kevin seemed to have chosen the other changing room, along with Lancelot. Around half past ten, Viviane and Valentine put in an appearance.

"We don't think we managed to pass the test, but we don't really mind, do we?" Viv said.

"Not at all," Val shook her head. "Mum will surely be disappointed, but we never regarded this competition as more than a mere game, and we had fun. Imagine, what stupid questions we have been given: one of them asked the exact datum of the Goblin Revolutions. Now come on, who remembers that?"

"1612," said Norbert.

"Really? I never knew you were actually listening to Binn's rambling," Dan said. "You always seemed to be occupied with drawing dragons at History of Magic."

"When you're drawing, you can still keep your ears open," his friend shrugged. "And what kind of questions did you have besides this one?"

"Well," Valentine said, "I don't recall each of them, but the worst was asking the ingredients of the forgetfulness potion. I doubt that anyone could give those properly."

"I think I managed to," came a voice from the door of the changing room.

"Gil!" Dan's face lit up. "How did it go? How many questions could you answer?"

"49, but I'm not sure about the 37th, too. Anyway, we'll find out at lunch. And you, boys? Feeling a bit queasy?"

"Not just a bit," Dan grimaced. "Now that you mention it, I want to throw up."

"I suggest you do it outside," Miss Lockhart smiled.

"I think I can hold it back," the boy took deep breaths.

"I'm sure you can. Good luck," she leant closer and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed to the root of his hair, making the twins grin widely.

"Hey, I'm not getting one?" young Malfoy pouted.

"But of course you are," Gilda stepped to him and kissed his cheek, too. "Good luck to you both!"

"Yeah, good luck! Try and stay on your brooms! Val and I have to go and say good luck to Lance and Kevin as well!" Viv said and all three girls exited.

Soon the whole changing room got packed with people. Besides several people whom they had only known by sight, Dan and Norbert's three dormitory mates Jerry Travers, Donald Rookwood and Iago Rosier were there, along with the Ravenclaw John Nash, the Hufflepuff Rowan Atkinson and the Gryffindor Nigel Bailey. Daniel wondered why someone like Nigel could volunteer for a tournament – Nigel was very much like Neville Longbottom – always made all charms go wrong. Well, at least he was indeed a Gryffindor, being brave enough to try, even if he was likely to fail. This was something Daniel couldn't have told about himself: back when he hadn't been an Imaginer, he hadn't wanted to take part in the duels at all, fearing that he'd suck. He had only dared to enter the tournament when he had realised that he could do almost anything with his Imaginer powers. He chastised himself for not having been as brave as Nigel Bailey and also decided to keep the Imagining to a minimum. He wanted to play fair as much as possible.

As ten o'clock came, the twenty-four contestants heard Dumbledore announce the final day of the tournament. Soon people started to get called out of the changing rooms, in the order their names had been drawn. With every new person leaving the room, Daniel got more and more nervous. He couldn't see what was going on out on the pitch, but he could hear it very clearly. According to the commentator, Rowan Atkinson was just being taken off the pitch to get both his broken legs fixed.

"Not so dangerous, eh?" Dan turned to his friend, who only shrugged. Dan hoped that in case he also needed some limbs to be fixed, Gilderoy Lockhart would be kept far from him. 

Finally, after one and a half hours of waiting, Daniel heard his name called.

He exited the changing room and, blinking in the sunshine, walked into the middle of the pitch where his opponent – a Gryffindor called Tom Parris – was waiting for him.

"Duellers, bow to each other," Dumbledore instructed.

While bowing slightly, young Potter caught the glance of his father who gave him the thumbs-up. He felt a little bit encouraged by it. 

"Go, Dan!" a female voice shouted from the Slytherin stands and he looked up to see Gilda touch her hand to her lips and blow him a kiss. If nothing, then this did encourage him. He mounted his broom – so did Tom Parris.

The two combatants flew to the opposite ends of the stadium, waiting for the headmaster's sign to charge at each other. Dan cast a second glance at Gilda who seemed to be crumpling a handkerchief. She looked really endearing, downright sweet… wait, there was a shower of green sparks!

Dan spurred his _Nimbus 4000_, and with his wand in his outstretched hand, he sped towards Parris. As they got within ten feet, Dan shouted _Reducio_, pointing his wand at the other student's broom. However, nothing happened. Parris cast the jelly-leg jinx at Dan, making his legs wobble so much that the _Nimbus_ practically wobbled out from under him. He found himself on the ground and got the idea that he had done something wrong. Well, if he couldn't perform the spell the normal way, he'd Imagine. As Tom made a small circle in the air, grinning madly at the other boy sprawling on the grass, Dan raised his wand and repeated the spell, this time concentrating on using his Imaginer powers as well. Parris didn't have any more time to grin, because his broomstick got reduced to its tenth and he equally fell off. His tiny broomstick hovered out of reach. 

Now that they had both fallen, they were even.

"Not bad, Potter!" Parris said. "But what do you say to this?" he pointed his wand at Dan's robes and shouted _Incendio!_

It happened too quick for Dan to realise that he should be casting the extinguishing charm on himself – he acted on instinct and imagined the fire put out without even using a wand, and – in the meantime – shouted _Engorgio_ at Parris' broomstick again, making the now normal sized broomstick swoop down on its owner from behind (without Tom seeing it), and slapping him hard on the butt with its twigs, making him 'fly' a couple of feet before hitting the ground.

"Now, now, can't you use anything else but size-changing charms, Potter?" Tom mocked, shouting _Rictusempra_ a second later.  

Doubling up with laughter, Dan raised his wand (his hand was shaking madly in the fit of giggles), and imagined Parris getting the Confundus Charm. He had somehow managed to utter its incantation as well between two laughs, but he knew that it wasn't the incantation that affected Tom, but his Imagining.

However, the charm worked pretty well, because Parris stopped and looked at his wand. "What is this?" he frowned, swinging the wand aside. "And what am I doing here?" he looked around, totally perplexed. "Is this some kind of a football match? I hate football. I'm going home to my mummy. Where's my mummy? Do I have a mummy at all?"

"Er… she's that way, I think," Dan pointed at the Gryffindor stands, and – to his great amusement – Tom walked off the pitch, looking for his mother.

"The match is over, the winner is Daniel Potter," announced the commentator. "Next pair: Lancelot Weasley and Norbert-Devilsmoor Malfoy."

* * * * *

At lunch, Gilda seemed very nervous.

"Calm down, Gil, I'm sure you have passed the test and you'll get a chance for the second round!" Dan told her between two slurps of orange juice.

"You two are talking easily, you know that you have passed the first round, but I cannot be sure! You two have the opportunity to prepare yourselves properly and screw up your courage for the second one, but I'm still in doubt!"

"Hey, chin up!" Dan reached out and patted her hand. "Everything's going to be okay. I know it will."

She gave him a grateful smile. "You know, Dan, I loved the Confundus charm. That poor boy was hilarious, looking for his mummy!"

"Yeah, especially when his mum rose from her seat in the stands and shouted 'I'm here, sonnie! Come to mummy, dear!'" Norbert quoted Tom Parris' mother's words.

Dan snorted into his plate. "I'm glad you liked it. You were great, too. Poor Lance, I hope Madame Pomfrey managed to fix him. And poor Uncle Percy! He looked as white as a sheet! I have never seen him losing his dignity before… you know what? He deserved to be humiliated a bit. He and Lance are two of a kind. Stuck-up, way too self-confident."

Dumbledore silenced the hall by sending up red sparks and Professor McGonagall started reading out the names of the ten contestants who'd be playing in the second round.

"Liu Chang, Dorothea Crockford, Julia Dumbledore, Eliza Eliot, Lavinia Flint, Morena Gaillardo, Gilda Lockhart, April May, Nellie Oleson, Viviane Weasley."

"Hah, you're in, Gil!" Dan patted the girl on the shoulder. "And Viv's too!"

"And Liu's too," Norbert pointed out.

"Liu?" Dan waved. "Who cares for Liu? I'll be rooting for you, Gil!"

"Thanks," she smiled and rose from her seat to join the other nine girls on the stage.

Hermione adjusted her black robes (strangely, they reminded a bit of those black clothes Anne Robinson used to wear, but everyone knew that Hermione wouldn't be as nasty as Anne.)

"Well, you know the routine: twenty questions, ten seconds for each, and answer as many as possible" the 'game show host' said with an encouraging smile to the ten scared first-years. "Please, try to eject a shower of green sparks to check whether your wands are working properly. Thank you. And now, let the quiz begin. Who was Hogwarts' headmaster before Albus Dumbledore?"

Julie Dumbledore was the first to eject sparks. "Armando Dippet."

"Correct," Hermione said. "Who wrote _Gadding with Ghouls?_"

"Gilderoy Lockhart!" Gilda beamed and the whole Hall started to laugh.

"Correct. What is the name of Jupiter's biggest moon?"

"Callisto!" Liu Chang shouted, making Gilda grimace. Liu had always been good at Astronomy.

"Correct. When did witches and wizards first use flying broomsticks?" 

"962 A.D.!" Liu replied again.

"Exactly," Hermione sent the girl a smile. "What magical creature has a golden-coloured baby?"

"The unicorn!" this time it was Viviane. Well, if no one, then she had to know it… she and her twin and Kevin had been visiting Angel ever since September.

"Correct. Which mountain is the highest in the world?"

"The Mount Everest!" Morena Gaillardo replied.

"Correct. Which British wizard band is the most popular?"

"The SPEW!" Gilda yelled enthusiastically. She was a great S.P.E.W. supporter and a fan of that band as well – she even had the badge SPEW on her school bag.

"Exactly. Who was Merlin's greatest antagonist?"

"Mim!"

"Correct, Ms. Crockford. What did the Muggle Alfred Nobel invent?" 

April May's wand ejected sparks, but she seemed to have regretted it. "Er… electricity?"

"No, he invited the dynamite. Who wrote A History of Magic?"

"Miranda Goshawk!"

"No, Miss Dumbledore, it was Bathilda Bagshot. I have always been confusing them, too," Hermione smiled. "What kind of magical creature has the body of a lion but…"

"Sphinx!"

"Now, now, Miss Lockhart, I haven't even finished it," Professor Weasley said. "However, it's correct. What is the nationality of Joseph Wronsky?"

"Polish," Lavinia Flint replied.

"Correct," (Lavinia drew herself up and sleeked her long, brown hair – some students had to fight down the urge of laughter). "What does the abbreviation quasar stand for?"

"That's easy. Quasi stellar radio source," Liu said, giving Gilda a belittling grin. 

"Correct. What was Sammy the Smelly famous for?"

"He never bathed," the up till silent Muggle-born Eliza Eliot replied.

"Exactly. What does the spell _Impervius_ do?"

"Er… makes stuff water-repellent?" April May said very quietly.

"Correct. Whose idea was to build Hogwarts?"

"Helga Hufflepuff!" Eliza said.

"Exactly. When was the Hogwarts Express built?" 

"1867." 

"Correct, Miss Eliot. Since when has Ollivander's been running in Diagon Alley?"

"382 A.D," said Nellie Oleson.

"No, 382 B.C.," Hermione shook her head. "What kind of incantation is used to make one's teeth grow?" she seemed to be somehow awkward about asking this question, but what could she do? It was written on the sheet she had to read out. The ten seconds were up. "No one? _Densaugeo_. And the last question: where would you look for a bezoar?"

Silence again.

"No one?" Professor Weasley gave the girls an amused stare. "Well, I think you should maybe look into _Magical Drafts and Potions_, or you could ask Professor Snape. I'm sure he'd give you a long description. The short version is that you can find it in a goat's stomach."

At the staff table, Aberforth Dumbledore started to chuckle for some reason, only to get a rather strict glance from his brother Albus.

"Well," Professor Weasley announced, "The results stand thus: the three students giving the most correct answers are Miss Chang, Miss Eliot and Miss Lockhart. Congratulations, ladies, you are in the third round."

"See, I told you that you'd do okay!" Dan said cheerfully as Gilda walked back to the Slytherin table.

"You were wonderful!" Norbert added enthusiastically.

"Thanks," the girl grinned. Somehow, Lavinia Flint didn't look as happy as Gilda as she seated herself next to Norbert.

Daniel stole a glance at Liu Chang, who seemed to be very taken with herself. She caught his glance and looked away immediately. She must have been hurt the last time when Dan had rejected her invitation to her birthday-party. Somehow Dan didn't mind if she was mad at him. He seriously hoped that the winner of the girls' contest would be Gilda, or if not her, then at least that Elliot girl. Anyone but Liu…

* * * * *

On their way back to the Quidditch stadium, the trio met the Potter family.

"I'm very proud of you, son!" Harry beamed at Daniel. "And you two also performed wonderfully," he turned to Gilda and Norbert.

"Thank you, Professor Potter," young Malfoy grinned.

"Really, Dan, we are so proud of you!" Rose chimed in. "You have learnt from us how to turn other people into a laughing stock!"

"Now go and make a ridicule of your next opponent, Dannie!" Robert added. 

Their father and mother shot the triplets a scolding look, then they all climbed the stands with Gilda in tow.

"Good for her…" Daniel sighed, eyeing the Lockhart girl. "She can now sit back and watch as we let ourselves be flattened."

"Then don't let yourself be flattened. So simple," Norbert shrugged and the two boys entered the right-hand changing room. Now only twelve people were competing. The six winners of the second round would go for the third round. 

"You know, I don't understand it," Dan dropped himself onto a bench. "In the third round there will be six people competing, right? Three couples. Then there are going to be three winners. Now, how can three winners be paired off?"

"We'll see. Anyway, don't worry about that right now. First we have to live to see the remaining three contestants, and one can never be sure that one lives to see it."

"Don't be so such a pessimist, Norb," Dan said. 

"I'll try not to… but somehow I have the feeling that I won't get into the third round."

"Me too," young Potter sighed. "But it doesn't matter. At least we've got past the first one and that's saying something. You're better than Lancelot. I'm better than Parris."

"…and you're better than Kevin, too," his friend said. 

"Really… what if I'll have to fight him?"

"Then turn him into a cockroach."

"Nah. I'm mad at him, all right, but I don't really want to hurt him. I mean… he's still my relative."

"You didn't have pangs of remorse when we were playing Quidditch against Gryffindor."

"Because that was different. Quidditch is not as dangerous as this tournament. There you could only get hit by a Bludger or fall off your broom, but here lots of other things could happen to you." 

"So, who is being pessimistic?" Norbert smirked and sank onto the bench next to his friend. "Relax, Potty. You'll do fine."

"I hope so. Just not Kevin, not Kevin…" Dan mumbled.

Soon, four other students arrived at the changing room and the six of them waited impatiently for the second round to begin.

Finally the harsh sound of trumpets tore at the air and Dumbledore announced the beginning of the second round.

This time Norbert's name got drawn earlier than Dan's. Dan gave him the thumbs-up as he exited to face his opponent, the Ravenclaw John Nash.

Normally it wasn't allowed for the contestants to peer out of the changing rooms, onto the pitch, but Daniel couldn't fight down his curiosity – he needed to see his friend's duel. 

He had to admit that Norbert was doing it rather nicely, but so was Nash. Their duel lasted almost ten minutes, and ended – to Dan's utter horror – with Norbert's defeat. He watched as his friend – on somewhat wobbly legs – climbed the stands and sat down next to Gilda.

For a second, Dan felt envious. Norbert had it all behind himself. He hadn't won, but he had fought bravely and now didn't need to worry anymore. *Oh, come on, get a grip, Potter!* Dan chastised himself. *You should be happy about still having the chance to compete and win!* Still, he wasn't feeling happy. Maybe he'd be feeling a bit better if he only knew that his opponent wouldn't be Kevin…

The commentator's voice announced the next couple: Iago Rosier and a Hufflepuff called Jones. Dan slumped back onto the bench, not a bit interested in the duel. He kept fiddling with his fingers, waiting for it to end, to hear the next couple's names.

"John Williams and Kevin Weasley!"

*Whew.* young Potter let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't be in a pair with his cousin. At least not in this round. But, he needed to see Kevin's performance. He hadn't seen him in the first round, but he wanted to know what Kevin was capable of, so he peered out onto the pitch again. *Huh, not bad… definitely not bad… ouch, that must have hurt… show him, Kevin! Oops! Have I just thought that?* he shook his head. *Go, Williams!*

Despite Daniel's silent rooting against his cousin, young Weasley won the duel.

"Nigel Bailey and Daniel Potter!"

Dan hopped up, suddenly feeling full of energy. Bailey was going to be a pushover. He was a great bungler! But… how could he have managed to get into the second round, then? Well, probably he had been paired off with another great bungler - that would explain it.

The two boys bowed to each other, then mounted their broomsticks and flew off to the opposite ends of the pitch.

Dumbledore waved his wand, ejecting a shower of green sparks.

Young Potter practically shot off towards the other boy, whose broomstick didn't seem to be half as quick as his – perhaps because it wasn't a _Nimbus_, or because its rider wasn't too talented in flying. Well, that was Nigel's problem, after all, and Dan didn't let it bother him at all. As they came within wand-shot, Daniel applied a severing charm on his opponent's broomstick's twigs. Good that the twins had broken his twigs at the Quidditch match, he thought, otherwise it probably wouldn't have occurred to him to try it on Nigel.

The Gryffindor boy lost control of his broom and it dumped him onto the grass, making him do several somersaults before he came to a standstill. 

Dan – very gallantly – let him sit up before he directed his wand at him with the intention of sending Nigel into a bewitched sleep. However, the incantation didn't work. 

*Oh, damn, of course it's too advanced magic for me to do without Imagining!* he fumed, barely able to jerk his broom out of the way of a Furunculus curse. *Whew, that was close! Now, what about a…* a happy grin spread on Dan's face and he concentrated on one thing that would disable his opponent in shouting hexes at him: the babbling curse.

"Loco…m…ort…moto…rtis…" no one really understood what Nigel wanted to say, but it was obvious for everyone that the duel was over: one of the opponents wasn't able to utter spells, thus couldn't perform _Finite Incantatem_ as well and couldn't carry on at all.

With a wide grin Daniel flew off the pitch, up into the stands where his family and two friends were seated.

"Well done, son," Harry smiled at him.

"It was a piece of cake, dad. I really don't understand how this Bailey guy could get into the second round, really…"

"Easily: his opponent was afraid of flying and got sick on his broom, so Nigel was proclaimed winner," Gilda said. "Ah, good for you, you're in the third round, Dan!"

"You are in the third round, too," the boy reminded her.

"Yes, but it is going to begin soon and I'm starting to get jittery again," she sighed.

"Don't be," the boy put an arm around her shoulder. "You'll be all right. And even if you don't win, I'll still regard you as the queen."            

Harry and Ginny exchanged an amused glance, seeing their son holding Gilderoy's daughter.

Gilderoy Lockhart himself didn't seem to have realised how intimately Harry's son was hugging Gilda – he was occupied with a mirror. While everyone in the stadium was watching the last two couples' battles, he was trying to detect any grey hairs and pull them out. He didn't even notice that the spectators around him were chuckling and pointing at him. Those few times he looked up, he cast a mad glance at Severus Snape, whose teeth were shining in the May sunshine.

* * * * *

There was half an hour of break before the girls' third round to allow the spectators to stretch their limbs a bit.

The three friends decided to take a walk around the Quidditch stadium. It had been Norbert's idea to allay Gilda's fears. 

"Take deep breaths and relax. You'll do fine. You have heard what kind of questions the others got, didn't you? You just have to give sensible answers and you'll win."

"That's not so easy, Norbert," she frowned. "Many of the previous third-round questions were really difficult and tricky, since they were all made up by Professor Weasley. They looked simple at first, but you could easily make a fool of yourself when answering them. I don't want to become a laughing-stock."

"You won't, Gil," Dan took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm sure you'll give wonderful answers and everyone will be taken by your cleverness. You're a very smart girl. Almost as smart as my Aunt Hermione and that's saying something."

She gave him a brilliant smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he smiled back, blushing slightly.

"How romantic," Norbert grimaced. "C'mon Romeo and Juliet, we've got to go back, only five minutes left."

As they walked back to the stadium, they met Draco Malfoy, who was accompanied by Gabrielle Delacour (Malfoy). Draco was sizing up his little brother in his usual belittling way: his hands were in his pockets and his face revealed contempt.

"You could have done better than that, you know," he said.

"I tried. Sorry," Norbert shrugged.  

"Sorry is not enough. You're a Malfoy and you've brought shame on the family's name."

"No, he didn't!" Daniel cut in.

"Stay out of this, Potty," the banker barked. "I'm seriously disappointed in you, Norbert. You practically let that bloke defeat you."

"Let him?" the boy paled. "You're out of your mind!"

"Am not. I've seen what I've seen," Draco folded his arms before his chest. "Father used to give me private duelling lessons. I trust he gave some to you, too. You must have come to Hogwarts knowing more about Dark Arts than others at their seventh year. Still, you let a pathetic little mudblood win."

"I'm not listening to any more of this!" Norbert's eyes gleamed with fury. "Come on, guys!" he hurried past his brother, into the stadium.

"Zat was very mean o' you," Gabrielle scowled at her husband. "'Ow could you treat your leetle bruzzer like zat? You might be disappointed in Nohrbert, but I'm even more disappointed in you!" with that she turned on her heels and started down the path back to Hogsmeade.

"But, Gabie! Gabie!" he ran after her. "You must understand this! This is about family honour! I have told you how much family honour meant to me, haven't I? That is why I married you!"

"Oh, yeah?" she doubled back, her face that of a very angry Veela. "You 'ave married me because o' family 'onour and nothing else, I take? Well, o' course! You wanted to save ze money for your leetle bruzzer, eh?  Oh, don't take me for a fool, Drhaco! You didn't care for your bruzzer when you did zat, did you? You don't care for anyone but yourhself! I'm deesgusted by you! Troth or not, I've 'ad enough o' being your wife!"

"My wife?" he laughed shrilly. "You never even let me shag you, for heaven's sake! And you call yourself _my wife_?!?"

"No more, Drhaco!" she threw something at the ground and stormed away.

He bent down to pick up the little object – the serpent-ring he had given her at their troth. "With or without this ring, you're still my wife for another eight months…" he whispered, following her receding figure with his eyes. "And I'll see that you'll remain it after those eight months are over."

* * * * *

While the second round of the quiz show took place in the Great Hall, (where the guests couldn't see it), the third round took place on the pitch, open for everyone.

By the time the spectators returned after the break, there was a small dais with three chairs placed at the middle of the pitch. Three fluffy pink earmuffs were lying on the chairs – they must have been borrowed from Professor Sprout.

"You know the drill, girls," Hermione Weasley said with magically enhanced voice.

The three contestants nodded, sitting down on the chairs. In the third round there were three questions that all three girls had to answer, but they weren't allowed to hear each other's answers, because that could have influenced theirs. While one of them was answering a question, the other two had to wear the wonderful earmuffs that even gave protection against mandrake screams. Each question was repeated to every contestant, seeing to it that all contestants heard them right before they had to answer them, so that none of them could have more time to contemplate her answer than the other two girls.

There was a five-person jury to decide whose answers were the wittiest. The jury didn't contain any of the Hogwarts staff members, to avoid partiality. Today's jury consisted of Madame Rosmerta, Amos Diggory, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher and Sirius Black.  

"All right, then. I will ask the questions in alphabetic order: I will always start with Miss Chang, then comes Miss Eliot, and finally Miss Lockhart," Hermione said with an encouraging smile. "Now, Miss Eliot and Miss Lockhart, please, put on your earmuffs. Thank you. Today's first question: Miss Chang, if you caught a goldfish that fulfilled three wishes and at least one of those should be directed at yourself, what three things would you wish for and why?"

"Well…" Liu knitted her eyebrows. "First I'd wish for world-peace. No more wars in the world, that would be nice, wouldn't it? Secondly: I'd wish that no one would be starving anymore. Food for everyone. Thirdly… wish something for myself? Well, that's easy. A happy family with a mother and father." 

Harry squinted at Cho sitting nearby to see that tears were welling up in her eyes. He sighed. If only he could help her! But there was no way he could help…

Eliza Eliot seemed to have greater difficulties with the question. "First… I'd wish for… the lack of illnesses. There would be no cancer, no AIDS, everyone would be healthy and would die of age, not of illnesses. Secondly… I'd wish for the end of environment pollution. There would be no hole in the ozone layer, the waters would be clear and the air fresh. We'd live a healthy life on a healthy planet. And thirdly… well, for me, right? I'd like to be treated equally by all my schoolmates. I'm Muggle-born and lots of people here still despise us Muggle-borns. I'd end it and have more respect than I have now."

"That was a very good wish, I think, Miss Eliot, "Professor Weasley nodded. If no one, then she could understand it what it was like to be treated like a second-class person just because she wasn't pure-blooded.

It was Gilda's turn. "Hm… three wishes, three wishes… well, first I'd end the oppression of the females on this planet. I'd make them have equal rights in all countries, even in the Muslim ones. It's unfair that they are treated like shit, as though they were no better than a mangy dog… I know this from experience, I'm half Egyptian and women there are wrapped up in those ugly black clothes… in many countries they even have to hide their faces and they are sentenced to death if two inches of their wrists show out of their clothes! Men have the right to have several wives in certain countries, even the Mormons are polygamous. So, why can't women also have more than one husband? They should be allowed! Or if not, then men also should be allowed to have only one! So, that's my first wish: equal rights to women! My second one… well… I fear that the wars are going to kill this planet… and the air and water pollution, too… I might sound pessimistic, but I don't need to be a diviner to see that Earth is running towards its doom. So, I wish that technology developed quicker and if it comes to that, mankind would be able to leave Earth and get to know the galaxy. I know this sounds far-fetched, but… one day we might need it. As for the third wish… for myself… I'd wish for three more wishes."

An agreeing murmur ran down the spectators and Gilderoy Lockhart flashed his daughter with a huge smile (that almost looked as fancy as Snape's) radiating the message 'that's my girl!', then returned to his mirror.  

"Thank you, Miss Lockhart," Professor Weasley spoke up. "Now, Miss Eliot and Miss Lockhart, please, put your earmuffs back on."

After the fluffy pink earmuffs got placed onto the two girls' heads, Hermione turned to Liu again.

"The second question: Miss Chang, if you had an opportunity to meet any person in the world – dead or alive – and ask him or her a question, then whom would you like to meet and what question would you ask them?"

Liu seemed contemplative for a while. Then a sad little smile appeared on her face. "I'd like to meet my father and ask him why he left my mother and me."

Up in the Gryffindor stands, Harry looked over Ginny's shoulder to catch a glimpse of Cho again. The pain on the woman's face was unmistakable. Harry's heart ached for her, especially because he knew that she must have been feeling not only sad but guilty as well: it was Cho who had left Liu's father, not the other way around, she had just fed Liu a tale about a nasty guy who didn't care for them. But the fact was that Cho had been in love with Harry, that's why she hadn't been able to stay with that Ross or whatever the name of Liu's dad was.

"Thank you, Miss Chang," Hermione motioned Eliza Eliot to take off her earmuffs and repeated the question to her. 

"Well…" Eliza pursed her lips. "I'd like to meet David Copperfield and ask him how he does all this stuff without magic. I mean… he's a Muggle. I'd like to know how he can do all the tricks without magic."

"Thank you, Miss Eliot," Hermione nodded and turned to Gilda. "Miss Lockhart, if you had an opportunity to meet any person in the world – dead or alive – and ask him or her a question, then whom would you like to meet and what question would you ask them?"

Gilda's eyes narrowed and she started furrowing her brow. "I s'pose… I'd like to meet Voldemort."

The spectators gasped as one single entity and Gilderoy Lockhart dropped the mirror he had been holding. 

"And, what question would you ask him?" Professor Weasley asked with a bit quivering voice.

"I'd ask him what has turned him evil. I simply don't understand why someone would turn evil just because his father didn't want him and his mother. There are cases even in the Muggle world when you can hear about orphans raping other orphans and things like that… but why would someone want to kill everyone and rule over the world just because he was an orphan? Of course he was Slytherin's heir, and as we know, Salazar Slytherin wasn't the nicest chap in the world, but somehow I doubt that his bad blood would have such a huge effect on a descendant who lived a thousand years after him. I would like to know, really know, how someone can turn so terribly evil."

"Wow, she's got some nerve!" Norbert whispered to Daniel, who nodded. He had liked Gilda for a while, but after this reply, he couldn't help but admire her. Liu and Eliza seemed to be dumbfounded by Gilda's answer. Liu even shot her a nasty glance, clearly envious of the gasps that could be heard after the 'I'd like to meet Voldemort' reply. 

Eliza and Gilda put the earmuffs back on and Hermione asked the third question:

"Miss Chang, what do you think the most important thing in life is and give your reasons."

"Love," Liu replied. "Without love it isn't worth living. Everyone needs to be loved or they'll turn as evil as You-Know-Who. I'm sure that the answer to Gilda's question is that You-Know-Who never got any love from anyone in his childhood, that's why he turned evil."

"Thank you, Miss Chang," Hermione nodded, but didn't totally agree with Liu. Certainly love was necessary, but it wasn't automatic that you turned evil if you didn't get love. Harry, for example, hadn't got love till his eleventh birthday, and still he had managed to remain a generous and kind-hearted person.

"Miss Eliot, what do you think the most important thing in life is and also give your reasons."

"Well, health, of course," Eliza replied at once. "Because illness can make your whole life go wrong. Even if you are loved by your family and friends, you won't be happy, you cannot be happy if you are sick. Especially if you are seriously ill, like you have cancer. If you have health, you have everything."

"Well, if that's your opinion, we certainly appreciate it," Professor Weasley said and motioned Gilda to take off the earmuffs.

"The most important thing in life?" Gilda mused after having heard the question. "Well… sex."

Several gasps could be heard again and Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to have shrunk, trying to get out of sight with a 'that's-not-my-daughter'-stare on his face.

"Uh… interesting opinion, Miss Lockhart," Hermione gave her an amused look. "Could you explain it?" 

"Well," Gilda shrugged, "you asked what was the most important thing in life. And I said that it was sex, because without sex there wouldn't be life at all…" she directed her stare at her shoes, feeling rather embarrassed. Maybe she shouldn't have been so outspoken… But as soon as the toothpaste was out the tube, it was hard to get it back in... She squinted at Liu who was eyeing her with a 'you-loser' sort of glance. And Liu must have been right – she had crossed the line. Saying something like that! If a seventh-year had said that, then it'd be sort of okay, but hearing such a line from an eleven-year-old kid's mouth must have shocked the members of the jury. Oh well, it was just a game, after all, she thought.

"All right," Hermione said. "All three of you have given us interesting answers. Now the jury needs time to discuss them and the results will be revealed right before the boys' third round, as usual. Now, fifteen minutes break."

Gilda was happy to flop down next to Dan and Norbert at last.

"You've really got some nerve, Gil!" Daniel told her.

"No, I think I rather have a serious mental disease," she wrinkled her nose. "I don't know why I said that. It just slipped out of my mouth… it was the very first thing that came to my mind and I said it without reconsidering it!"

"First thoughts are said to be right," Harry interjected. "You gave really intriguing replies, Miss Lockhart."

"Well… thank you, Professor," Gilda said, having no idea whether Harry was complimenting her or mocking her. She glanced back at her father who was still sitting hunched in a back row, trying to look as small as possible. Even this way, several people turned around to point at him and whisper 'he's the father of that girl!'

Before the fifteen minutes were up, Daniel headed for the changing room again. Now only he and other five contestants were competing. The other two boys sharing the changing room with Dan were a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff. All the three other contestants occupying the other changing room were Gryffindors. *It seems I always have to fight Gryffindors.* Dan heaved a sigh. His insides were turning into jelly again as the beginning of the third round neared. 

Finally trumpets' sound tore at the air and Albus Dumbledore's voice spoke up, announcing the results of the girls' third round: "I must tell that the jury had a very difficult decision to make this time. All three ladies gave very clever and interesting replies – replies that proved them to be witty and mature for their young age. However, the jury had to make a decision and chose one of them for us to be crowned now… Let me announce that the queen's second maid of honour is Eliza Eliot. Give her a big hand, ladies and gentlemen!"

The crowd started to clap fervently as Eliza received a small bronze diadem from the headmaster. She gave the spectators a sheepish smile – a smile that held a hint of sadness.

"The queen's second maid of honour is Liu-Ling Chang! Give her an even bigger hand!"

Midst cheering and applause, Liu walked up to the headmaster with a sullen face. She looked not only a bit sad like Eliza, but downright hurt. She didn't smile at all when she received her silver diadem.

"This leaves, certainly, one person to be today's Queen of Beauty and Love: Gilda Lockhart!" Dumbledore said, beaming. "Please, come forward, Your Majesty."

"Hey, he's calling you!" Norbert nudged Gilda who was sitting next to him with a dumbfounded expression. She didn't seem to be breathing, didn't seem to be living at all… her mouth hung open and her eyes bulged. "Anybody home?" he shook her gently.

"Huh?" she blinked.

"Dumbledore's calling you. You're the queen."

"A… am I?" she asked in a hoarse voice. Certainly she had known it when Liu had been called, but it somehow hadn't sunk in. Her? The queen?

"Yeah," Norbert nodded. "Now, move on!"

"Don't let the headmaster wait, Miss Lockhart," Harry gave her a smile. 

"Go, dear," Ginny added encouragingly.

Gilda slowly stood up and Norbert hopped up from his seat to help her, because she looked as though she'd collapse any second. With the boy's help she managed to climb up to the top box. 

"And now, let me crown Your Majesty," Albus said. Gilda sunk to her knees, trembling. How much she had been longing for this to happen, but now that it did, she couldn't believe it… After she got her crown, she slowly stood up and saw that her father had turned around in his seat to face the top box, his expression radiating _'that's my girl, a real Lockhart_!' She sent him a proud smile. Finally she had managed to make her father be proud of her. The thought filled her with eternal joy.

She slightly shifted her glance to the pitch and saw three heads appear in the door of the changing room to the right. One of them belonged to Daniel, who was gazing up at her with sheer admiration. She hid a smile and waved at him, then took place in the top box – the queen would be watching the final round of the tournament from her throne.

* * * * *

Daniel was aware that if he won the next duel against whichever opponent he'd get, he'd have to fight once more for the title of the Champion. He was quite happy when Kevin Weasley got paired off with the Hufflepuff boy – if the Hufflepuff boy defeated Kevin, then Daniel wouldn't have to worry about him. But somehow he had a certain feeling that the Hufflepuff boy was to lose the duel.

If Professor Trelawney's feelings had proved as true as Daniel's now, then she very possibly wouldn't still be sitting at Hogwarts teaching, but would be sitting at Delphi as an oracle…

Certainly Kevin had won.

This meant that if Dan managed to defeat his next opponent, then he had a 50% chance to have to fight against his cousin next.

Daniel got paired off with a Gryffindor called Sean Smith. He had seen this Sean fighting in the first two rounds and had to admit that he was quite good. However, he was no Imaginer while Dan was one. After trying to use magic the normal way in the first two rounds and almost losing the duels just because of that, Daniel decided to use only Imagining in the battle against the Smith boy. Using only his special powers, Sean proved to be a pushover for Dan. After mere four minutes of duelling, Sean staggered off the pitch under the mixed effects of a jelly-leg jinx and a Quietus charm – the latter disabling his vocal cords, depriving him of the chance to say _Finite Incantatem _or any other spell at all. This type of charm had proved useful in Nigel Bailey's case as well, with the exception that Dan had used a babbling curse back then. If Smith had paid better attention to Dan dealing with Nigel, he might have assumed that Dan might try something like this again and would have been able to prepare and deflect the curse.

Oh well, it was Sean's problem that he hadn't paid attention, wasn't it?

Knowing that he'd have to duel again, Dan walked back to the changing room and waited until the duel between the remaining Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ended. It had been quite a nasty battle for two first-years: the Gryffindor boy had a broken arm and jaw, the Ravenclaw got knocked unconscious by his own broom that the Gryffindor contestant had bewitched to beat its owner. Neither of them was able to continue fighting.

Now nothing could save Dan from having to fight against his cousin.

"Ladies and gentlewizards," Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat. "Let me announce the beginning of the last duel of the millennial wizard-knight tournament. The two competitors are Daniel Leonard Potter and Kevin Frederick Weasley. Let us greet them on the pitch and wish them a very successful duel!"

The spectators cheered as the two boys flew out of the opposite changing rooms – Daniel on his _Nimbus 4000_, Kevin on his brand new _Rocket 5001_.

They slightly – very slightly – bowed their heads to each other, waiting for the headmaster's signal to begin the duel.

Daniel took deep breaths, trying to calm himself – to no avail. He had never been so nervous about anything before. He knew that he could defeat Kevin if he wanted, he could easily defeat him if he only used his powers, he could humble him and trample on him, but… he wasn't sure whether that was what he wanted. *A Slytherin, am I?* he thought. For the time being, he didn't feel a Slytherin at all. He couldn't find it in his heart to actually harm his cousin, no matter what Kevin had done or said to him. He wished that a lightning would strike into the goalposts, spreading fire all over the stadium… then the duel would be cancelled. But then again, it would still be held later…

Dumbledore's wand ejected a shower of green sparks.

*Here we go!* Dan braced himself and spurred his broomstick. Somehow this time he and his opponent seemed to have got within wand-shot much quicker, than in the previous three duels… barely had they shot forward when they had already reached the middle of the pitch – and to the crowd's great surprise they flew past each other with wands held out – they flew to the opposite ends of the pitch, practically doing no more than changing places.

*Why hasn't Kevin thrown a curse on me?* Dan wondered. *And why haven't _I_ thrown a curse on him?*

He didn't have much time to contemplate this, because his cousin again spurred his _Rocket 5001_ towards him. Kevin seemed equally surprised by his own and Dan's 'doing-nothing'.

To their even greater surprise they reached the middle of the pitch again, hovering mere feet from each other, eyeing each other without a word.

Finally it was Kevin who broke the silence, but it was no spell that left his mouth: "Have you chickened out, Potter?"

"No, what gives you that idea?" Daniel asked.

"You didn't dare curse me the first time."

"I thought it was you who didn't dare curse me," came the answer.

"Oh, really?" the Weasley boy's expression turned mocking. "Then watch this!"

"What?" Dan grinned as he held out his wand in front of himself to deflect Kevin's little wind-charm that was supposed to knock him off of his broom. Kevin gasped as Daniel not only didn't fall off his broom, but the 'wind' turned into a small funnel-shaped thing looking like a tiny tornado, and it got sucked into Daniel's wand.

"How did you…?" the Weasley boy breathed.

But young Potter didn't answer – instead he flicked his wand and the tornado suddenly gushed out of it, right at Kevin, sending him down into the grass, then ran back into Daniel's wand. Good that he had learnt to control forces of nature the Imaginer way, Daniel thought and hopped off of his broom while Kevin stood up from his sprawling position. Kevin's expression revealed not only surprise, but also fear, and a silent question: _'why on Earth have you got off your broom_?'.

Although the question remained unspoken, Daniel understood it pretty well. "I want us to be equal. It's easy cursing you from my broom when I can fly out of the way of your curses. Now we are even."

Kevin's dumbstruck expression turned into an outraged and deeply hurt one. "I don't need your pity!" he howled. "_Diffindo!_"

"Ow!" Dan hissed as his robes were cut open and fell off him. Now he was standing there in a T-shirt and jeans. How good that his whole family preferred Muggle clothing underneath the wizard robes! Very possibly someone like a Malfoy would now be standing in front of everyone in nothing more than a pair of boxers. Hm, that wasn't even a bad idea! *Two can play at this game,* Dan thought and pointed his wand at Kevin, but didn't say any incantation, just imagined the exact way a Malfoy would look like after a de-robing.

Before Kevin knew what was happening to him, the whole crowd started to laugh at his sky-blue boxers revealed due to Daniel's vivid imagination.

"_Reparo_!" shouted Kevin at himself, but the spell didn't work, since his opponent hadn't used _Diffindo_. What exactly Daniel had used Kevin didn't know, but he was close to exploding with rage when he realised that the spell didn't restore his clothing.

"What have you done to me?" he yelled.

"Nothing more than further-developed your own idea," Dan shrugged, contemplating what to do next. However, the enraged Kevin was quicker and wanted to give him just as much embarrassment in return, so he shouted "_Tarantallegra_!"

For several seconds Daniel lost control of his legs that made him do the most difficult steps of an Irish tap-dance.

"Not bad, Daniel Flatley!" Kevin smirked and gave his cousin a Twitchy Ears Hex to go with his madly dancing legs. The smirk, however, vanished from his face when he saw Dan's eyes closing, his legs ceasing to dance and ears stopping to twitch. Dan seemed to have gone into something like a trance, but only for three or four seconds then opened his eyes and sent Kevin a smile.

"Hey, thanks, Kev, that was some exercise. I'm definitely going to get Irish dance lessons during the summer holidays."

"Are you making fun of me, Slytherin?" The-Boy-In-Sky-Blue-Boxers hissed. 

"No, I truly enjoyed it," Dan replied calmly. "So, are we duelling or chatting, Gryffindor?" he uttered the 'Gryffindor' part with just as great contempt as Kevin had uttered 'Slytherin'.

"No way! _Leosortia_!" his cousin bellowed. Daniel watched curiously as something blossomed out of the tip of Kevin's wand and dropped to the ground with 'meow'.

"This… is a lion for you?" young Potter pointed at the baby-lion that Kevin had conjured. Very likely Kevin had wanted to conjure a real, huge, threatening lion to demonstrate the superiority of Gryffindor house, but hadn't succeeded. Dan felt like being under the _Rictusempra_ curse – he couldn't help but laugh.

Kevin's fists clenched and roses of embarrassment appeared on his cheeks. "Okay, then, show me that you can do better, Potter!"

Dan shrugged and flicked his wand for a diversion, shouting _Serpensortia_, while in fact imagining a snake slithering out of the tip of his wand.

Up in the stands Harry gasped – he still well remembered that Duelling Club in his second year. Back then the snake had been black and tiny. This one, however, was poisonous green with huge fangs – and it was huge.

A loud murmur ran down the stadium and Albus Dumbledore stiffened in his seat.

Daniel had conjured a basilisk.

*No, it can't be!* Dan's mind screamed. *I only wanted a small one! A cute, little one!* Daniel clearly remembered having imagined a small grey snake. Then – how did this one appear here? He had been long past the 'misimagining-stuff' period. He hadn't misimagined anything for months! Still, he had no control over his powers now. He knew what he had imagined, and something totally different appeared. Why, for heaven's sake? 

However, he couldn't contemplate this at all, because the basilisk charged at them.

Kevin's eyes bulged with fear as the huge serpent towered over them. His legs turned jelly with panic and his hand holding the wand was trembling. He tried to point his wand a bit higher, at the beast, but the basilisk's tail whipped out towards him and knocked the wand out of his hand. Now he really looked petrified with horror.

Daniel didn't know what to do. For four or five seconds he was eyeing the basilisk that seemed to be eyeing Kevin. Kevin was retreating on barely working legs, his eyes on the serpent's ugly face… that was when Daniel realised that this wasn't a real basilisk. Maybe it just looked like one, but it was some other type of serpent… Daniel had no idea, but of one thing he was sure: had it been a real basilisk then Kevin would have long died of its stare… But, if wasn't real, then how could it look so real? Dan clenched his fists and knitted his eyebrows, trying hard to imagine-vanish this creature he had so carelessly conjured - to no avail. It was still there, advancing on Kevin… in the next instant its tail whipped again, jerking Kevin's legs out from under him. Kevin hit the ground and seemed to have lost his consciousness. Daniel saw that the pseudo-basilisk charged at his cousin with its fangs bared, and the only sensible – or not so sensible – thing he could think of was to jump forward and hurl himself at Kevin's body.  

**A/N:** the 'if you have health, you have everything' is something that my grandpa used to tell me, and though I don't totally agree, I think it's still quite sensible, so I decided to use it.

_Love Goddess_: Lily likes Norbert, but she realised she wasn't in love with him. She likes him as a friend.

_Houou:_ Harry and Remus won't always be at each other's throats, I promise.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: you'll find out in chapter 27.

_Altec:_ just wait it out, and your opinion might change. Mile High Club? Sorry, I have no idea what kind of a club that is :(

_AmandaPanda_: of course Sev and Beryl will make up! :)

_goldenstar555:_ glad you did. I hope you liked the description in this chapter, too.

_maureen_: what's your favourite boy's name, then? I'm curious to know, really.

_VegaKeep_: more S/B in the next chapter.

_Indigo Ziona_: well, you got to see more Imagining! :D

_C-chan:_ wow, you must be right about the chess! I made a mistake there! Sorry, but I'm not much of a chess player. I agree, Muggle meteorologists tend to be terrible at forecasting the weather, too. We in Hungary have a meteorologist who always wears bowtie and talks as if he thought he was the centre of the universe. Reminds me of an older Gilderoy Lockhart ;) 

_Katrina_: well, very likely those things are connected. Wait till chapters 27-29 and you won't be confused anymore :) I don't like Cho and Liu (almost hate Cho), but in this chapter I felt sorry for both of them. No, Dave and Lily won't end up together, since they are related. It'd be sort of an incest, don't you think? I agree, I'm pretty sure that JKR made mistake concerning the number of students studying at Hogwarts. But, the fact that only five male and two female Gryffindors are mentioned in Harry's year, doesn't mean that there aren't any more. *shrugs* Wow, you came up with a rather interesting theory as 'Lily'. Not correct, but interesting, nevertheless.

_Inigma_: I haven't been reading fifth year fics for ages. I though there was no point, since OotP would come soon. No, the last chapter won't be wedding _at Christmas_ ;) Is your friend who is called Tatyana Russian, by any chance? What? Lily – pregnant? No way! She's just 13, for heaven's sake! 

_BigDaddy753_: well, Dan didn't knock Kevin the f**k out, he rather saved his life… or did he? You'll find out from the next chapter (I know, I know, evil cliffie again!)

_SiriDragon:_ I know Norb and Lily are cute together… sorry. You'll get what you wanted concerning Dan and Gilda ;) They aren't really going out – YET. 

_Laina_: of course Snape and Beryl will make up :D

_The Millenium One_: um… who's in love? You meant Lily?

_2Coolio_: nope, Liu didn't make Queen and Dan's powers worked pretty well… until the 'basilisk' came.

_PheonixFire_: when ISN'T Cho annoying? ;) Okay, you're right about the Easter thingie, I just didn't remember that being mentioned after the Aunt Marge part.

_Red Ridding Hood_: Quodpot is the American version of Quidditch (see Quidditch Through the Ages).

_rebkos_: Ivo the raven isn't important.

_Mage_: well, you'll see whether the N/L breakup will last or not.

_Beauty in Disguise_: Ginny should kill Cho? LOL. Snape and Beryl will get together in chapter 27.

_Alexander Phoenix_: there has always been a debate in the HP fandom whether Blaise is a he or a she. Since I read Cassandra Claire's works, I regarded Blaise as a she. 

_Tap Dancing Widow_: I also feel bad for pooooor Gildy! No, the good-life-for-Harry won't last for long.

_Nefertiri_: it's something else but has something to do with Tatyana.

_Colibi:_ I hope you liked the tournament :)

_Inken:_ no, none of your assumptions is correct. But I'm happy you liked Snape :D

_Hermione We@sley_: I hope the tournament was cool enough :) You'll find out what's going on with Lily in chapter 28, no sooner, sorry. Glad you liked Snape's reaction.

_candycaneOgram:_ certainly only the first years' tournament was important enough to describe it in a detailed way. The Quidditch match, however, will be shown properly in the next chapter. Well, about Dan and Kevin's friendship… just wait till the next chappie ;) No, Tatyana's disappearance has nothing to do with the tournament. It is connected to other things I'm not revealing till chapter 29. You want Cho to die in the Quidditch match? LOL. I think Dan fears that if he took the book to the common room, then someone would find it. About Lucius and the house-elves… you'll find out in chapter 28 or 29, I'm not sure which one.

_Lana Riddle_: glad you liked it :)

_King Jasbon_: my birthday is 19 February. Had I known that your birthday was 28 March, I would have mentioned your name in the 'dedication-section' :)

_Mistri:_ sure, feel free to borrow the Green Flame Torch (you're about the fifth person asking for the same permission ;)

_ruffled owl_: well, now you got the tournament, I hope you didn't find it too lame. (I'm not exactly an action-writer, you know)

_heavenly182angel:_ IMHO means In My Humble Opinion.

_CheezyStars:_ it's funny that sometimes people tell me that another reviewer is their best friend… I'm happy to know that people 'spread' my fics to each other ;)

_sabby:_ no, Voldie doesn't have a son (I shudder at the mere thought of him having sex with a woman… yuck)

_Romina_: I'm glad you regard my fic as an 'obsession', LOL.

_Any last requests_: are you sure? Don't be sure! Yeah, Snape being sexy sounds very hilarious.

_Myr Halcyon:_ I don't think that the competition is that sexist. At first I was playing with the thought of girls riding broomsticks and throwing hexes at each other just like boys, but then thought: "women are always considered stupid by men, so why not show those males that females can also be witty?" If you think this is sexism, then I'm surprised. I don't think that Crime and Punishment is that romantic… there's Sonya the prostitute who falls for Raskolnikov, but they aren't really *romancing* in the book, at least I didn't think they were. Have you already reached the part when the officer tells Raskolnikov how he managed to find out that Raskolnikov was the murderer? I particularly liked that part.

_Autumn Dreams_: bingo, Gilda will use a hairdo from her dad's book ;) Snape will find out about the baby in chapter 26. 

_TaMaraR:_ glad you liked Dan rejecting Liu's invitation :D Down with the Changs!

_Lioness-07863_: Dan and Gilda will get together in chapter 30, no sooner. No, Gilda was *really* reading a book on hairdos, believe me. 

_CloverWeave:_ no, that book Gilda was reading isn't that important. So, you're also a Lily/Norbert shipper? :)

_Princess Ginny_: you'll find out about the winner in the next chapter. Can't give you a hint about why Lily's acting weird, wait till chapter 28 :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: I totally agree with the one dorm/year/house, but it was our wonderful JKR who said that there were 1000 Hogwarts students, so it was she who messed it up :) Well, Lily and Norbert aren't gf/bf now. Yeah, Dan could have imagined his friends forgetting about seeing him sneaking out… I think. But not even he can think of everything (in other words: not even the poor author can think of everything ;) Thanks for the grammar correction.

_Sarah_: no, this fic won't have a sequel, but I'm sure that after having read OotP I'll write new novel-length fics. What kind of prediction of yours did you get right? I'm curious to know :)

_Lady Schezar_: well, from a certain point of view I'm a comedy writer – see Gadding with Goats, it's total comedy :)

_Bucky:_ I think I'll dedicate one chapter to you in the future :D Okay, let Snape have twins! (though they won't be born in the fic, so I won't be stating that there are two kids, however, if you want him to have twins, then you're free to imagine that he'll have twins ;)

_Wood's secret lover_: thanks for pointing out that little mistake, I was giggling madly when I read it :)

_seashell:_ I hope you're healthy again!

_jasper:_ I did :) Glad you like Dan and Gilda.

_xaebhal_: yep, you seem to know me well enough ;) 

_Toby Haine_: yes, it was a nice change that I ended chapter 23 with a non-cliffie, huh? How unusual of me! But now you got the cliffie *evil laugh*


	25. Hard Decisions

**A/N:** HAPPY EASTER in advance to everyone who celebrates it!

Imagine, finally I've screwed up enough courage to post a story to FictionAlley! I'm so proud of myself! I posted Gadding with Goats into the Riddikulus house.

If you haven't looked at my art gallery on GTnet recently, then do so, there are loads of new arts and also old arts with new colouring (link to them is in my ffnet bio).

This chapter it dedicated to Rab, whose birthday was on the 12th, to Lupin's Angel, whose birthday was on the 14th, to Wood's secret lover who has birthday tomorrow, and Beauty in Disguise, who shares her birthday with Severus.

**Chapter 25**

**Hard decisions**

Before Daniel knew what was happening, hexes criss-crossed above his head and some hissing noise followed. The pseudo-basilisk had been hissing, all right, but now it seemed as though some other snake had joined in the hissing.

Dan didn't dare look up – he was lying facedown on the unconscious Kevin. Suddenly he heard something large hit the ground then felt someone tugging at the back of his T-shirt. Slowly, he raised his head to look into his parents' worried eyes.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked while Ginny crouched down and pulled him into a firm, motherly embrace. Her body was shaking, and Dan knew that she was on the verge of tears.

"What… what happened?" the boy looked around and saw several hit wizards standing around the disabled body of the 'basilisk'.

"Well, we saved you," Harry shrugged. "These gentlemen here stupefied the snake after Ginny and I persuaded it not to kill you and Kevin."

"So… that was the other hissing voice!" Daniel breathed. "You and mum."

His father nodded. "It might prove useful to have some Parselmouths in the family, right? Now come on, get off your poor cousin, you're crushing him!"

"Oh, yeah…" young Potter stood up, his legs feeling quite wobbly. Ginny pointed her wand at the other boy and whispered '_Enervate_'.

"What…?" Kevin blinked.

"Tell you later," Albus Dumbledore's voice cut in. "I think that young Mr. Potter and I need to talk."

Daniel gulped. The headmaster's last sentence somehow didn't sound too reassuring. *I'm disqualified for sure.* he sighed inwardly as followed Albus off the pitch, into one of the changing rooms.

Albus took place on a bench and motioned Daniel to sit down opposite him.

"And now, son, would you care to tell me what this was all about?"

"The serpent?" the boy asked with a shaky voice. Dumbledore nodded. "I don't know, sir. I… I conjured it by imagining, but… I imagined a small, grey snake, and this huge one appeared instead. I don't know why, though. Such a thing has never happened to me, sir. I wanted to imagine-vanish the snake, but it just wouldn't go away. I felt as though I had no control over it, as though I couldn't control my own will. As though something had been blocking my imagination… as if it hadn't been _me_ at all who was imagining all these things!"

"Not you?" the old wizard raised an eyebrow. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know, sir, but believe me, please, I did not want to conjure a huge beast, I didn't want to endanger Kevin's life… I totally understand if you disqualify me from the tournament. Kevin deserves the title Champion."

"I cannot tell you anything about this right now. I must discuss the matter with some trustworthy staff members. We shall decide about your future together. Now you may go back to your parents."

Daniel exited the changing room feeling as though his heart had sunk into his stomach - it felt so heavy. What if Dumbledore would not only disqualify him but also expel him from Hogwarts? He didn't dare imagine what would happen then. He did not want to be a Magical Garbage Man, but without adequate education that was the only job he could hope for in the wizarding world.

He saw the headmaster beckoning Professors McGonagall, Sinistra, Snape and Sprout – the four heads of houses - to himself and they left the stadium. He felt miserable.

Norbert joined Dan to question him about the events, but Gilda couldn't, given that she had to pose as the Queen in the top box. 

"Come, I'll buy you a butterbeer," young Malfoy steered him off the pitch.

* * * * *

The four heads of houses plus Dumbledore disappeared into Hagrid's hut that was much closer to the Quidditch stadium than the Hogwarts castle.

"So, what is going on, Albus?" Minerva spoke up.

"Whatever it is, I don't like it," Severus added.

"I'll try and explain things," Albus said. "First of all, I must ask you to keep this a secret from everyone, even your fellow teachers. I have kept this a secret ever since Halloween."

"You scare me," Stella Sinistra Lupin frowned.

"No wonder, since it _is_ scary," the headmaster replied. "Wonderful, but scary."

"Out with it, Albus," Snape growled.

The headmaster took a deep breath. "Daniel Potter is an Imaginer."

"A what?" Sinistra and Sprout asked in unison.

"A very rare type of wizard. There have been only a couple of dozen of such wizards in the whole world, and in England there has only been one before Daniel. It was Godwin Potter, an ancestor of his who lived a millennium ago."

"What does an Imaginer do?" Minerva knitted her eyebrows.

"He imagines, of course. Imagines things and makes them come true."

"Makes them come true by merely imagining them?" the Herbology professor gaped.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded.

"You've known this since Halloween?" the deputy-headmistress asked. "Then… it _was_ Daniel Potter who froze the spiders!"

"Exactly, Minerva. And it was also him who made the Snitch explode."

"Indeed?" Snape looked contemplative. So, young Potter had saved his life back at Halloween… an Imaginer… a very dark expression fell over Snape's face – the expression of someone who had just put two and two together...

"But Albus…" McGonagall cut in, "how could you hide the boy's powers all along?"

"Well, I was training him."

"Training???"

"Yes. A long story, Minerva. The main point is that Daniel has become a very powerful Imaginer, although, of course, his training isn't completed. He is powerful and talented… he hasn't mis-imagined things for months… that's why I'm so concerned now. He told me that he had imagined a small, grey snake, but instead there was a huge, green one. He said he lost control of his powers."

"But then… that boy's dangerous!" Sinistra said.

"He is only dangerous when he cannot control himself," the headmaster replied. "And truth be told, I really don't understand why he lost control today."

"Albus…" Minerva interjected, "if you knew what the boy was capable of, why did you let him compete?"

"Because it would have been rather suspicious if I forbade him to enter the tournament… people would have wondered why I did that."

"But this way you practically let that child cheat!" Snape snapped. "He was using his advantage over the others! That's how he beat them all, isn't it?"

"Well, Severus, this depends on your point of view. You all know that Daniel barely has any normal magic… he only has Imaginer powers. If we didn't let him use his special powers, then he'd be in disadvantage compared to the other students. Everyone should play to their strengths, don't you think? Daniel badly needed to prove himself and I just couldn't deny him the chance to do so. At those lessons I gave him he couldn't show anyone what he was capable of, he couldn't be sure whether he would be able to perform properly in front of a huge crowd with everyone looking at him… I wanted to give him a chance to test himself. He is a very special boy – special, thus a real asset. He needed the opportunity to test his potential, to let his talents blossom out… this is the only way he could be a useful Imaginer – an Imaginer who could do wonderful things for the wizarding world. Just think it over, Severus: if there's another fire, he could just imagine the flames put out and the house restored to its original state. If there's a flood, he could imagine perfect dams to keep the waves at bay. He can do practically anything imaginable. He is a real treasure, and has to be treated accordingly."

"A real treasure, eh?" Snape raised his voice. "Well, he was a real treasure today, wasn't he? Perhaps next time he imagines a Tyrannosaurus Rex for us. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Think, Albus! You know what wizards with great powers are capable of… Slytherin, Grindelwald, Voldemort... they were all special, exceptional… and what did they become? _Evil_."

"Oh, come on, Severus, don't say that this boy… this nice little boy is going to be another You-Know-Who?" Professor Sprout said with a pale complexion.

"I'm not saying he will be like Voldemort," Snape replied. "I said he _could_ be like him. A lot of power drives people crazy. They start to think that they have power over everything… and they destroy the world. Every coin has two sides, Albus. The head might look pretty, but you may not always know what to find on the reverse when you turn it."

"I'm aware of that, Severus, thank you very much," the headmaster replied calmly. "I knew what a dangerous idea it was to train young Potter, however I knew that it would be even more dangerous to leave him without training. Anyway, my point of summoning you here was to tell you the truth and ask you to help me with a decision in the light of your newly acquired knowledge."

"What decision?" Sinistra asked.

"We do not have a Champion. The duel ended with no defeat or victory."

"Well, perhaps the boys could carry on duelling?" Sprout suggested.

"I don't think they're in any shape to carry on," McGonagall shook her head. "They've been through too much to expect another duel from them."

"Minerva is right," Dumbledore nodded. "And since the boys are too worn to keep competing, we must decide whom to name Champion: Kevin Weasley, who has fought nicely but definitely not as well as his opponent; or Daniel Potter, who conjured a beast, endangering their lives, but was ready to protect Kevin's life even at the expense of his own. Let's have a show of hands, ladies and gentlemen."

* * * * *

Daniel was sipping his butterbeer, grateful for the pleasant warmth of the liquid. The sun was just about to dive behind the horizon, and he started to feel a bit cold. Perhaps it wasn't because of the weather, since it was quite warm – his inners felt freezing. His whole body was shaking a bit, as though he had high fever. But he knew that it was just his nerves.

"Um, Daniel?" he heard a familiar voice and turned around.

"Kevin? What do you want?"

The Weasley boy (now properly dressed) blushed, even his ears turned red. "I… I heard that you saved my life."

"I did not save your life," Dan shook his head.

"But… you covered me when that serpent charged… it would have killed you, not me… you were really brave, you know."

"It was not bravery, Kev. I did it on instinct," Dan shrugged.    

"I still thank you." 

"You don't need to. It was all because of my stupidity. Had I not conjured that damned snake, neither of us would have been in any danger."

"You only conjured that snake because I mocked you into doing so," his cousin said, looking guilty. "If it was someone's stupidity, then it was mine."

"No…"

"Let me continue!" Kevin waved. "Please."

Daniel nodded.

"Listen, Dan, I feel like an idiot about this, but… there's something I need to admit to you. I haven't been mad at you ever since the three-hundred-points-incident. Not really, I mean. Of course I was mad at you back then, but later… my fury disappeared. And I was furious of myself because I couldn't hate you anymore."

"But then… why?"

"I don't know, Dan. I was being stupid. I was mad at myself, and I was mad at you because I couldn't hate you. That was what riled me: that I couldn't hate you. I wished I could, but… I couldn't. Not that I didn't try… I tried to hate you, that was why I was so nasty to you. I tried to persuade myself that I hated you… but believe me, I wasn't enjoying being nasty to you."

"I wasn't enjoying being nasty to you, either," Daniel grinned.

"Good," Kevin sighed with relief. "Couldn't we just… forget it all?"

"I'm game. If you promise to never get the twins to knock me off my broom again."

"Promised," the Weasley boy nodded. "So then… um... are we.. er, friends?"

"I'd be glad if we were," Daniel replied. "I hated being your enemy."

"And I hated being yours," Kevin answered.

"But Kev… what about the tournament?"

"What about it?"

"One of us will be proclaimed Champion. The other won't."

"I know. But I don't care anymore," Kevin said. "Honestly. I wish you were the Champion."

"I wish it was you," Dan countered.

"We aren't going to start quarrelling about this, are we?"

"No way, cousin," young Potter laughed. "Come, let's join the others."

* * * * *

As the five teachers walked back to the stadium from Hagrid's hut, Albus turned to Snape.

"Honestly, Severus, I do not understand you."

"What do you mean?" the Potions Master knitted his eyebrows.

"You are the head of Slytherin, and - forgive me for saying this -, but famous for favouring the Slytherins. So, why didn't you vote for Daniel Potter?"

"Because of my teeth," came the miffed answer.

* * * * *

"Well, since the last duel ended in a bit particular way," Albus Dumbledore said from the top box, "the heads of houses and myself decided to put the title of Champion to a debate. Taking all good and bad aspects into respect, weighing all alternatives, we have come to a decision. I must say that it wasn't an easy decision to make, bearing in mind that one of the parties will be unhappy with it. However, let me reassure both contestants, that the 'jury' thought highly of your performance. Both of you have fought wonderfully, but there can only be one Champion. Therefore I announce that the title Champion goes to the person who, although proved to be a bit careless, showed a great deal of courage..."

"It's you!" Kevin nudged Dan.

"No, you!"

"… Mr. Daniel Potter," Dumbledore finished his speech.

"Told you!" Kevin grinned. Norbert slapped his friend on the back, while Dan was unable to move or speak.

"M…me?" he stammered. "There's a mistake! It should be you, Kev!"

"You deserved it, old boy," his cousin said. "Go, go up to the Queen and let her give you that wreath!"

Daniel did not know how long it had taken him to climb up to the top box, neither did he hear the cheering of the crowd – the only thing he heard was the frantic beating of his heart. He dropped to his knees before the queen without even looking at her – he simply didn't know about the outside world – everything seemed to be a blur.

It was only then that he got shaken back to reality, when he felt someone's warm skin against his temples. The contact didn't last more than two seconds, but its warmth sent shivers down his spine and he slowly looked up to see the person who had touched him.

He gasped. He could not believe his eyes. This couldn't be reality, could it? He blinked, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes to make sure that he had seen it well… that he had seen _her_ well.

"You have received the wreath of golden laurels as the symbol of our deep admiration. Let us congratulate you on your victory, noble knight," said the Queen of Beauty and Love in a sweet tone.

"Gil… is this… is this really you?" Dan whispered, his eyes still wide with surprise.

"Yeah, silly," she giggled.

"But… what happened to your hair?"

"Dad's book," she shrugged. "'_1001 magical hairdos'_, remember? I just used a trick from there." 

"You are… beautiful," he breathed with as much adoration as he hadn't given anyone before. But Gilda truly deserved it: her usually short and boyish hair now reached down almost to her waist. It was sleek and complimented perfectly with her huge blue eyes and long, pale pink dress (she must have changed after her crowning but Dan had been too occupied with worrying about the upcoming duel to notice it). She indeed looked like a queen.

"Why, thanks, Sir Daniel," she smiled. "Come on, stand up and show yourself to the people."

He got to his feet, helped Her Majesty up from her throne and waved down at the cheering crowd.

"You know, it's funny, Gil."

"What?" she slipped her hand into his. 

"That we were the ones who didn't want to take part in all this madness… and now we are standing here because we've won."

She squeezed his hand. "Yes. It's funny."

* * * * *

For the first time for weeks, Daniel had a good night's sleep. It was a dreamless sleep, without any images disturbing it. Before going to bed he feared that he'd have nightmares about the 'basilisk', but fortunately he didn't. When he woke up the next day, he felt full of energy and happiness – the trials and tribulations were over, now he could just sit back and enjoy the parent-teacher Quidditch match. He felt so chipper and carefree that the snake didn't even come to his mind – neither did the previous day's worry about losing control over his powers. It must have been a mere accident, after all…

After breakfast he, Norbert and Gilda hurried down to the Slytherin common room to grab some binoculars, then headed upstairs.

"You know, I think the girls' questions were rather interesting in the third round," Dan told Gilda. "I particularly liked the goldfish-question."

"Wonder why," Norbert chuckled.

"Really, why?" the girl asked, smoothing her long hair. Originally she had only wanted to have long hair for the crowning-the-champion-ceremony then turn it back to normal, but Dan's open-mouthed admiration convinced her to leave it that way.

"Ah, yeah, you don't know yet," Daniel sighed. "Well, I think it's all right to tell you, too. So, I was born a squib, Gil."

"A squib?" she gaped. "But… but, then…"

"My father caught a magic goldfish at Durmstrang," Dan carried on. "And had three wishes. One of his wishes was to save Aberforth Dumbledore's life – he was seriously injured and dying. Another wish of dad's was to make sure that all descendants of his would be magic."

Gilda glanced at Dan, furrowing her brow. "So, you got magic powers from a goldfish?"

"Yes, I did."

"Wow… that's some story, Dan. Ah, the irony of life: you were born with absolutely no magic skills, and now you are better than all the others."

"You're exaggerating," the boy grinned sheepishly.

"Really, Dan… what was your dad's third wish?" Norbert asked as they neared a huge statue of a griffin.

"Well… I'm not supposed to tell this to anyone, but… you're my friends, after all, I trust you. So, his third wish was to rid Professor Lupin of his lycanthropy."

"The what?" Gilda breathed.

"Didn't you know that Professor Lupin used to be a werewolf? Well, he really used to be one. And dad made him become a normal person again. But dad never told him. He didn't do it for getting thank-you's."

"That's really noble of him," Miss Lockhart said.

The trio walked past the huge griffin, heading for the Entrance Hall. They had no idea that one James Lupin had been standing behind the statue and had heard every word.

* * * * *

"Ladies and gentlewizards," David Dursley's voice came over the magical microphone, "let us welcome today's Quidditch players: professors of Hogwarts and parents of Hogwarts students! Never in the school's history has a match like this taken place, and to add to its uniqueness, we have one retired Keeper and two retired ace Seekers from two wonderful British teams: Oliver Wood and Harry Potter from Puddlemere United and Neville Longbottom from the Whimbourne Wasps! Now both Seekers are Hogwarts professors, and captains of their teams. On team A we may welcome Virginia Potter, Ronald Weasley and Cho Chang as Chasers, Oliver Wood as Keeper, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters and of course Harry Potter as Seeker! Team B is swooping onto the pitch – let's give them a big hand ladies and gentlemen: Gilderoy Lockhart, Marcus Flint and Blaize Zabini Flint as Chasers, Severus Snape as Keeper, Aberforth Dumbledore and Remus Lupin as Beaters, and Neville Longbottom as Seeker! Finally arrives today's referee, the headmaster of Hogwarts: Albus Dumbledore!"

The spectators clapped fervently as all fourteen players took their positions over the pitch with Albus in the middle, holding the crate with the four balls and having a whistle hanging on a chain around his neck. No one had ever seen the headmaster fly a broomstick so far, but he seemed to be in his element.

"I like your dad's broomstick!" Dan whispered to Gilda at the Slytherin stands, pointing at a pink-painted broomstick Gilderoy was riding. Although team B was supposed to be wearing navy blue robes, Gilderoy had insisted on adding some lilac stripes and also wore a jaunty little lilac hat.

"Yeah, Gil, what is your father's broomstick called? _Pinkus 2000_?" Norbert added.

Gilda gave him a very patronising look that she had exercised as a queen.

Harry's team – team A – was playing in apricot coloured robes. 

Harry gave Neville a grin that Neville returned. It had been a while since they had last played against each other. Harry also squinted at Remus, who diverted his stare at once. A shiver ran down Professor Potter's spine – he still felt terrible about being Remus' enemy, and he felt even worse by the current 'I-want-to-see-you-lose-Potter' look on Lupin's face. With a sigh he turned his attention back to David Dursley's voice and the referee hovering in the middle.

"Aaaaand the Quaffle's released! Marcus Flint intercepts, passes to his wife, she scores… Wood saves! The Quaffle's by Virginia Potter, no, Cho Chang, no, Ron Weasley… Cho Chang… Marcus Flint again… 10-0 to team B!"

"Argghhh…" Daniel groaned at the stands. 

"Chin up, Dan, team A can equalise!" Norbert said.

"Ron Weasley in possession, passes to Chang, back to Weasley… scores… Snape saves! Wow, that was unexpected!" David commented, only to get a scolding look from McGonagall. "Okay, so Marcus Flint in possession, passes to Lockhart, hey, Professor Lockhart, that was a Bludger you wanted to catch! The red ball is the Quaffle! Aberforth Dumbledore sends the other Bludger towards Cho Chang, but Fred or George Weasley intervene, well done, guys! The other Bludger is taken care of by Professor Lupin, ow, that was close, Professor Potter!" Harry could barely jerk his _'Firebolt – The Special Edition'_ out of the way of Remus' Bludger. Up till now the Snitch hadn't been spotted, so he and Neville didn't have much to do, just keep their eyes open.

"Chang in possession, passes to… fault! Professor Lockhart, you are NOT supposed to be chasing after a Bludger, really! The red ball is the one you have to care for!"

"Uhhhh…" Gilda pursed her lips. "Not again!"

"Not again what?" Dan asked.

"Dad's periodical illness," the girl replied. 

"What illness?" Norbert inquired.

"Colours-blindness. It is a returning illness. It comes then goes away. He very likely acquired it when his _Obliviate _curse backfired – it was some side-effect or I don't know but sometimes he cannot tell the difference between certain colours."

"Aha, so that's why he keeps wearing pink!" Dan grinned. "He thinks he is wearing blue when he puts on pink. Perhaps he's firm in the belief that he's riding a brown broomstick?"

"Noooo," Gilda shook her head. "His illness doesn't come too frequently. Once in six months, maybe, and doesn't last for more than a day… bugger, why did it have to come right today?" 

Meanwhile, both teams managed to score three times, so it was 40-30 to team B.

When Gilderoy finally caught a Bludger and tried to score with it, hitting Oliver Wood rather badly on the shoulder, Albus gave team A a penalty which Ginny used and equalised to 40-40.

"Not fair! It isn't dad's fault that he cannot tell red from black!" Gilda clenched her fists.

"Oh come on, it's no tragedy, Gil. Just one penalty," Daniel grinned. He was, of course, rooting for team A.

The game was getting rather nasty. Aberforth and Remus were practically Bludger-duelling with Fred and George – the two pairs of Beaters were passing the two Bludgers between themselves, so the two black balls couldn't even get close to any other players. The Chasers of both teams used the chance for scoring as much as possible. Marcus Flint and Blaize Flint seemed to be very good at working together, but they must have got used to being together during their 12 years of marriage. The only bungler on team B was Gilderoy, who seemed to have started to mistake everything for everything – not only Bludgers for Quaffles, but also navy blue robes for apricot robes. That was how he passed the Quaffle once to Cho Chang, allowing the opponents to get into the lead. 70-60 to Harry's team.

Snape – however strange it may sound – proved to be quite a good Keeper, almost as good as Oliver Wood himself. Now that he was constantly hovering near the team B goalposts, making circles in front of them and gritting his teeth whenever someone tried to or even managed to score, everyone down in the stands had an opportunity to see his wonderfully shining row of teeth. Even those who had never got a chance to glimpse it before could marvel at its beauty. However, Beryl Bradley at the Hufflepuff stands wasn't marvelling at the beauty of Snape's teeth – she was eyeing the Potions Master in a sad way. Severus had been refusing to talk to her for weeks and she simply had no idea what to do to draw his attention back to her. She gave up counting how many times she had come close to burst out: 'I'm with your child, Sev!', but somehow she had always managed to hold herself back. Now she was ogling him dejectedly, hoping that nothing bad would happen to him up in the air.

No such luck.

Suddenly the two Bludgers that Fred/George and Aberforth/Remus had been passing between themselves jerked off course. "What the…?" George and Aberforth shouted in unison. George had definitely directed one of the black balls at Remus, and Aberforth had most definitely sent the other black ball towards Fred, still… both black balls took another course and swept towards Snape.

Down in the stands Beryl stiffened.

So did Daniel. He also gasped and went as white as a sheet.

"Dan?" Gilda shook him gently.

"No…" young Potter whispered. "Please…"

"No please what?" the girl furrowed her brow, looking up to see that Severus was madly jerking his broom away from the Bludgers that kept attacking him. Gilderoy Lockhart flew to his assistance, but one Bludger knocked his lilac little hat off his head and he went into a dive to catch it. Perhaps he should have played Seeker…

Before the Flint-couple could arrive to help the Potions Master in distress, one Bludger achieved its goal: while the other engaged Snape's attention by flip-flopping around his midsection, the other sneaked behind him and attacked: hit him on the back of his head. He lost consciousness at once. Although the Flints were already on the way to help, Harry was closer. Seeing Snape going limp on his broomstick then starting to slip off it, he spurred his _Firebolt – The Special Edition_, praying that he'd reach his once oh-so-hated-Potions-professor before it was too late.

Not for nothing, though, had Harry been one of the best Seekers in Great Britain – he went into a dive, swooping past Lockhart who was pushing his lilac hat back onto his dishevelled blonde locks. Practically flattening his body to the handle of his broom to lessen the air resistance, Harry flew downwards at a breakneck speed – he didn't remember ever having flown this fast. Mere two feet above the ground he caught Snape's body and jerked his broom upwards, performing a perfect Wronsky Feint.

"That was some spectacular save, Professor Potter, pity that no points can be given for it," David commented. "Oh, it seems that Professor Longbottom has managed to catch the Snitch!"

While most players' attention had been drawn to the Snape-incident, Neville – who had been at the other end of the pitch – hadn't seen it, only the Snitch that happened to fly by. By the time he had realised that there was some problem at the opposite end of the pitch, he had already had the tiny, golden ball in the hand. This was the first time he had won against Harry, and yet he didn't feel that he had won. Every time he had played against Harry and Harry had won, the crowd had been cheering Harry for having caught the Snitch. Now the crowd wasn't cheering Neville for having caught it – they were cheering Harry again, for having saved Snape.

Somehow Neville couldn't feel jealous of his old friend. With a sigh, he pocketed the Snitch, touched down onto the ground and hurried to the small group gathered around the unconscious Potions Master. Fred and George managed to catch the two rogue Bludgers and forced them back into the crate.

Since the mediwizards who had been present at the tournament had left the previous evening, it was only Madame Pomfrey who could help the injured Keeper. Remus and Aberforth lifted Snape's limp body onto a stretcher and headed for the castle.

The headmaster climbed up to David and took the microphone. "No need to worry, ladies and gentlemen. Everything is under control. We are going to investigate and find out what happened to the Bludgers. Professor Snape will be taken care of by the school matron. The match has been won by team B: 170-90." with that, he also hurried off to the castle.

"I can't believe it," Norbert whined. "To end it just like that!"

"Professor Longbottom caught the Snitch," Gilda reminded him. "The game's over. What got into you, Dan?" she turned to the other boy who was still sitting next to her with ashen face.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you," young Potter turned to her, some unaccustomed light in his eyes. Gilda couldn't really put a finger on it, but it seemed to be fear what she saw in them. 

"What wouldn't we believe?" Norbert knitted his eyebrows.

"I've got to go," Dan hopped up, and before either Miss Lockhart or young Malfoy could ask him what had got into him, he had disappeared into the crowd.

* * * * *

Harry dropped himself onto a bench in the changing room and propped his head into his palms. He was all sweaty and felt very cold. He well remembered his own case with Dobby's mad Bludger, but that was different. Now both Bludgers had attacked Snape and Harry didn't have the slightest idea why. Who would want to hurt Snape?

Then suddenly the Halloween incident came to his mind. Someone had tried to kill Snape back then, but had failed. Now it seemed that they had decided to try it again. And what if they succeeded this time? Getting a Bludger to the head was nothing to joke with… one could actually die if the concussion was serious enough. 

Suddenly Harry felt someone touch his shoulder and he looked up to see Cho standing next to him, eyeing him with a small smile.

"You were wonderful, Harry," she said, sitting down. 

"Wonderful? What if my 'wonderfulness' couldn't save him? He still might die, Cho."

"Oh, Harry…" she sneaked an arm around him. "See, that's what I particularly like about you: your huge heart. I know how much you disliked Snape back in your school-years, and now you're worried about him."

He shrugged. "Everyone's worried… aren't you?"

"A bit. But you know, when you went into that suicidal dive, I was worried much more about you than about him… I feared you'd die."

"Hey, I'm an ace Seeker, remember?" he grinned.

"Oh, really?" she grinned back. "Really, Harry… I was afraid. My heart skipped a beat… I feared I'd… lose you just like I lost Ced."

He reached out to squeeze her hand. "I'm sorry, Cho. It must have been hard for you to lose everyone you loved. Cedric…"

"…and you," she said. "I know I have lost you long ago and a part of me died when I left you all those years ago, but the other part of me would also have died if you had died now… seeing you being happy - even though you're not with me – makes me feel as though I still had a little bit of you. I love you, Harry."

"What about Cedric?" he whispered. "Don't you love him, too?"

"Yes, I do. I love both of you," she replied, looking deeply into his emerald eyes. "But he's dead and you're alive."

"I'm alive. But I'm married. To Ginny."

"I know," she sighed. "And I'm happy that at least you are happy… having a nice family and all…"

"Cho…" he started to feel awkward. "I'm sorry… I… I saw your reaction back at the girls' third round… I felt with you when your daughter talked about having no father and no proper family…"

She heaved a huge sigh. "I wish I could tell her the truth… that it was me who left Ross, not the other way around… then Liu wouldn't hate her unknown father. Ross wasn't a bad person… it wasn't his fault. His only fault was that he wasn't you."

Harry looked away, feeling embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I wish I could help somehow," he whispered to the coat rack.

She reached out and caressed his cheek. "You cannot. But I still thank you, Harry," she said softly, leaning towards him until they were mere inches apart. He felt her hot breath on his skin and felt memories rushing to his mind – memories of himself back at school, pining for the inaccessible goddess Cho Chang… longing for a single kiss that she had refused to give… one kiss that she finally gave.

Before he could pull away, she bent forward, turning his head to face her and gently pressing her mouth onto his. He was too surprised to push her back, too surprised to think over what was happening… so, without thinking he melted into her embrace, plunging into the pool of bittersweet memories of fifteen years ago… her lips pressed tightly to his made long forgotten dreams resurface – dreams that had made the teenage Harry wake up drenched in sweat and flushed with embarrassment… but that had been fifteen years earlier! And this was the present… he had to stop, his mind screamed. _Stop, stop, stop_ – invisible walls in his brain echoed the word, reverberating until he felt strong enough to pull away.

"Argghhh… we shouldn't have…" he mumbled.

"How very true!" a third voice tore at the air.

Harry turned towards the door of the changing room to see his eldest daughter Lily standing there with eyes gleaming with fury.

"Lil, I…"

"No need to explain this, Harry!" she hissed. "You have been cheating on mum! Gosh, and I have held you for an honest man! Honest? Ridiculous! How could you? Tell me, how could you do this to poor mum? When she loves you so much? When there has never been anyone else for her, only you!?! How could you betray her love, Harry?" her eyes were not only filled with fury and disgust, but sadness and disappointment as well. She had deliberately used the name 'Harry' instead of 'dad' again.

"Listen, sweetie, it's not…"

"…what I thought it was?" she crossed her arms, giving him a 'don't-take-me-for-a-fool' stare. "You are a pathetic liar, Harry. You're pathetic and I have no idea how I could ever like you! Just to inform you: now I hate you!"

"Lily, let me explain!" he raised his voice.

"There's nothing to explain about this!" she snapped. "I've seen what I've seen! And I'm glad it was me who saw it and not mum… she'd be crushed! I bet you've been carrying on with this chick for a while!"

"First of all: she's no chick. Secondly: I haven't had any kind of relationship with her… It was just one single kiss, nothing more happened, and I was _given_ the kiss, it _wasn't_ _me_ who _gave_ it…"

"Oh, and you expect me to believe that?" she spat. "I really feel sorry for poor mum. She deserves someone better than you!"

He gave her a worried glance. "You don't intend to tell your mother… do you?"

"Of course I don't! I love her and don't want her to suffer! She's my mother… but you, you're no more my father!"

Before Harry could answer, the girl stormed out. He looked around devastated, but there was nothing and no one to speak to. Cho must have slipped through the other door while Lily had been pouring her tirade at him. Well, maybe it was better that way – he would have felt even worse if he had had to talk to Cho after this.

As for Lily… he had no idea what to do. Lily wouldn't tell Ginny for sure, but neither would she talk to him in the near future.

He sank onto the bench again and hid his face into his hands. Why, oh why did he have to let his one-time crush wake emotions in him? Had she woken emotions in him at all or was this just some stupid fervour-of-the-moment thing? It had to be! He loved Ginny! Ginny and no one else! But then… why on Earth did he let Cho kiss him and why on Earth did he kiss her back? And why was Lily behaving like this? Certainly she had to be mad at him, but… her reaction seemed to be stronger than it could have been expected from her in such a case. 

Harry simply didn't understand Lily. Every time she seemed to turn back to him after some silly quarrel, something new occurred to turn her against him again… or was it just a series of coincidences? Either it was or not, Lily was very mad at him right now, and Harry couldn't blame her. He knew he would have felt rather miffed if he had seen say, his mother snogging with Professor Snape…   

_"…but you, you're no longer my father!"_ Lily's words echoed in his mind, shooting painful arrows into his heart. He had screwed it up again. And this time he really felt guilty – he had been kissing another woman while his wife was outside with her brothers… he had not only been unfaithful, but stupid as well. Was his daughter's hatred his punishment? He couldn't ponder this because Fred and George barged in, laughing madly at something.

"What's this great happiness?" Harry grunted.

"What's this great moroseness?" Fred countered. "Oh, come on, Harry, it's the first time you lost a match against Neville, don't take it to your heart!"

Harry gave them a sad smile. Of course, the twins were thinking that he was sad about the lost match. 

"Really, mate, you're still the hero of the day, saving Snape's sorry ass!" George grinned. "But you know what we've just found out?"

"What?" Harry asked, feeling not at all interested.

"Lockhart's colour-blind!" Fred told the news. "That is why he has been trying to catch the Bludgers all along!"

"Really?" Professor Potter sighed. "How very interesting. How did you find out?"

"Er…" George's ears turned red. "We… kind of… fed him a painting-pasty…"

"..it turned him green…" Fred added. "And he started to scream 'help, I'm yellow! I've got to see Madame Pomfrey, I must be having a serious liver-disease!'"

"Yeah… and he hurried off to the infirmary," George smirked. "You should have seen him, Harry, it was a sight!"

* * * * *

The school nurse had just finished examining the unfortunate Snape when Gilderoy burst in. "Help, Madame Pomfrey!" he yelled. "I'm sick!"

"Well, you look green enough," she seized him up.

"Green?" he frowned. "Not yellow?"

"No, definitely green," she shook her head. "What have you eaten?"

"Just a… oh!" Gilderoy slapped his forehead. "Fred and George Weasley! Oh my, how could I be so stupid? Sorry to bother you, Madame Pomfrey!" he turned on his heels and marched towards the door with the intention of giving the twins a thorough dressing-down and demanding an antidote. At the door, he bumped into the headmaster.

"Oh, sorry, Albus!"

"Never mind, Gilderoy! Oh, why are you green?"

Lockhart waved indignantly and hurried off.

"So, how is our patient doing, Poppy?" Dumbledore turned to the school matron.

"Not well. He is going to survive, but won't be up for several days. He got a very nasty concussion."

"I see. Do everything in your power, Poppy, please," said Albus as the door of the infirmary opened again to admit the caretaker.

"How's he?" Beryl asked, her face as white as a sheet.

"He'll live," the headmaster sent her a reassuring smile.

"Oh, thanks heaven!" she sighed. "May I stay with him?"

The headmaster gave Madame Pomfrey a questioning stare. The matron seemed to be on the verge of saying 'no, definitely not', but seeing the pleading and devastated expression on Beryl's face, she nodded. "All right. But be quiet. He needs a lot of rest."

"Professor Dumbledore!" Daniel Potter yelled, ripping the door open.

"I SAID HE NEEDS TO REST!" Poppy stamped her foot. "Out with you, young man!"

"Er… Professor…" Dan looked at Albus. "We've got to talk. It's important. Very important."

Dumbledore nodded and left the hospital wing. "Come with me to my office, young Potter."

Daniel followed the old wizard down the corridor, up a staircase, to the ugly stone gargoyle he had seen so many times before. After muttering _Ton-Tongue-Toffee_, Albus entered with the boy in tow.

"Well, what is so important, Daniel?" Dumbledore asked, motioning Dan to sit down. But Dan didn't sit. He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself to say something he was afraid to utter and said:

"_It was me_."

"What was you?" Albus blinked.

"I did it. To Professor Snape. Though I don't know why and how…" Dan gulped. "I didn't want to… seriously, Professor, I'd never want to kill Professor Snape, it'd never occur to me… still it was me."

"Are you sure?" the old wizard asked.

"Yes. I felt it. Energy left my body just like it always does when I imagine something big, but it wasn't me imagining all these things! It was as if someone else imagined them, just I was the one who carried them out! I don't understand how it could be possible, but I felt so! You believe me, don't you, Professor? I would never deliberately imagine-kill a teacher!"

"Calm down Daniel, please," Dumbledore waved. "Calm down and sit down. I believe you and know that you're not a murderer. However, it seems that your powers have been out of control once again, just like yesterday with that snake…"

"Yes, it seems so… but yesterday I did intend to imagine a snake, and I just thought that I accidentally imagined a bigger one than I had wanted, but today… it didn't even occur to me to do anything to those Bludgers… I didn't imagine them attacking Professor Snape, still it had to be me doing it, because I felt the usual… that Imaginer-energy escaped my body… it had to be me. I just can't explain how and why… or perhaps…"

"Or perhaps?" the headmaster raised a silver-white eyebrow.

"You… you might expel me for this, Professor, but… I s'pose it's better if I told you…" the boy said with wavering voice. "I'd rather be expelled than to carry on endangering other peoples' lives just because of that book…"

"What book?"

Young Potter took another huge breath. "I've broken a school rule. Actually I've been breaking it for weeks…"

"And may I know what kind of school rule that is?"

"I've been sneaking out to the well… Well, not exactly to the well, but to Gryffindor's chamber."

"To _what_?" Dumbledore's eyes widened.

"Gryffindor's chamber. I found it the first time I fell into the well. It's down there in the cave, hidden behind a door that can only be opened by Gryffindor's heir. And there's a message from Gryffindor himself to his son Godwin, telling about a book on Imaginers. According to Godric there had only been two copies of that book and he got hold of one of them because in some vision he had seen that his son would turn out to be an Imaginer and that he'd need it. Since you have been teaching me from your ancestor's diary, I thought that Godwin had never found the chamber and never read the book… but I did. I read it. And learnt from it," he glanced at the old wizard, seeing that he was eyeing him curiously. "Maybe I shouldn't have studied from that book… I learnt lots of stuff from there, but also dangerous stuff… I don't know, but maybe that book turned my powers in the wrong direction and that is why I cannot control them… I really don't know," he heaved a huge sigh. "Now you can expel me, I'll understand it. But you had to know about the book."

For about a minute the headmaster didn't reply anything, just kept scrutinising the boy's features. Daniel was on the edge of his seat, waiting for the sentence, already seeing himself in his mind's eye saying good-bye to his friends and Hogwarts… suddenly Dumbledore spoke up:

"Take me to the chamber."

* * * * *

Severus Snape slowly opened his eyes, blinked, and the first thing he saw was a pair of worried brown eyes gazing down at him. Bradley.

"What… happened?" he whispered.

"The Bludgers," she replied. "Remember?"

"Oh… yeah…" he nodded then clutched at his nape. Nodding must have hurt him a lot, since he had a head-injury. "And what… what happened after it… knocked me unconscious?"

"You fell off your broomstick. And Harry Potter caught you before you could hit the ground."

"Potter?" Snape uttered the name with sheer disgust. "Potter again?!?"

"Well, it seems, Professor, that you keep being saved by Potters," she shrugged. She still remembered when Severus had told her about James Potter saving him from the werewolf Lupin, then Harry saving him at Stonehenge, and now this… poor Sev, she thought, it must be hard for him to accept that the Potters kept saving him all the time. 

Not to mention that Beryl had no idea about Daniel also saving Snape from the spiders back at Halloween…

"And you?" he grunted. "What are you doing here?"

"Sitting up for you, what else?" 

"Because you feel sorry for me, eh?" he hissed, though talking seemed to cause him great pains. "You feel sorry for me… because a Potter had to save me again, right?"

"No!" she snapped. "I don't feel sorry for you!"

"Then why – are – you - here?"

"Because I was worried about you!"

"Worried?" he furrowed his brow. "Worried about someone who hasn't been talking to you for… for…"

"Two weeks, three days, five hours? Yes," she nodded. 

"Well, you shouldn't be."

"Why not? Because you don't deserve it? I agree. You really don't deserve it. I still worry about you. And you want to know why?" before he could say 'no', she clamped her hand over his mouth and leant over him, to look directly into his black eyes. "Because I love you. You don't deserve that, too, but I still do."

He tossed her hand away. "What about Neville Longbottom?"

"Neville?" she laughed. "I love him as my brother." 

"You seemed to love him another way," he said accusingly. 

She only grinned.  "You're jealous."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are t…" she couldn't finish the sentence, because he suddenly pulled her down and kissed her thoroughly. She melted into his embrace, letting his hands caress her back… strangely those hands felt stronger than a sick man in Severus' condition was supposed to have.  

"Liar," she whispered as she pulled back.

"Liar? Me?" he snapped. "You have been lying to _me_ for months! You have been taking me for a complete fool! If someone can be called a liar, then it's you!"

"If only you'd give me a chance to explain!" she jumped up from his bed.

"I'm not interested," he crossed his arms and frowned petulantly. "My head hurts. Leave."    

"All right! I'm leaving!" she shouted. "And don't expect me to come back, because I'm no longer interested in you! You could kick the bucket, I wouldn't give a damn!"

"Oh, I'm very hurt indeed!" he yelled after her as the door slammed shut. "Oh… this really hurts!" he clutched at his head again and slumped back into his pillow. "Women."

* * * * *

Daniel touched the tip of his wand to his index finger to produce one single drop of blood.

"May I ask what you are doing, son?" Albus asked.

"Well, sir, do you see this script over here?" Dan pointed at the door. "It's a riddle that I solved. The point is that only Gryffindor's heir with Gryffindor's blood can open this door," with that he pressed his finger to the small oval dent of the door. 

The chamber opened and he entered, followed by Dumbledore.

"Hm… not bad," the old wizard looked around admiringly. "The good ol' Godric new some magic, huh?"

"He definitely did, sir," Daniel nodded and hurried to the red marble table on which Viviane Vablatsky's book on Imaginers lay closed. 

"Ah, so this is that infamous book?" the headmaster picked it up and stared to turn over the pages. "Well, well, well, it looks pretty interesting. I cannot blame you for having been eager to learn from it, however, sneaking out of school isn't something I'd approve of."

"I know sir," the boy nodded sullenly. 

"Now, would you look at that!" Albus said suddenly.

"What?"

"There's a page missing."

"Ah, that. Yes, I know," Dan said. "It must have been torn out by someone long before Godric put the book into the chamber."

Dumbledore didn't reply, just seemed to be looking very carefully at the page before the missing one. "Hm… _the art of cont_…"

"Oh, yeah, I have also wondered what that means. It could mean so many things, since many words start with 'cont', don't they?"

"Yes, that's true," Albus nodded. "However, given the circumstances, I believe I know what it means."

"What, sir?"

"_The art of controlling an Imaginer_."

Daniel furrowed his brow, then his eyes widened in shock. "Could it be? Could it be, Professor? That someone was… controlling me? Controlling my powers… using that page? The missing page?"

"We cannot rule out the possibility," the headmaster replied. 

"So… whoever has that page is using it to make me do stuff that I don't want to?" Dan breathed.

"It's very possible, Daniel," Albus sighed. "Very possible."

"But… sir… how do they _know_ that I'm an Imaginer? I mean… just mum, dad and you know. No one else…"

"At least we think that only your parents and I know. But it seems that someone else does, too. And that someone else has the missing page and has been using it for his own purporses."

"Could… could that person be the same who… who wanted to kill Professor Snape back at Halloween?"

"It could. I'd say it's very likely that the two persons are the same. We just have to find out who they are."

"And until then…?"

"Until then," Dumbledore gave the boy a sad look, "you are expelled."

**A/N**: the story's getting darker, and eviler and eviler cliffies are coming… 

_BigDaddy753_: thanks :)

_goldenstar555:_ yes, definitely evil!

_PhoenixFire:_ I promise you that Albus won't die. What gives you the idea that Tatyana lives in Lily? 

_Red Ridding Hood:_ I was totally amazed when David Copperfield made a whole airplane disappear! And when he went through the Great Wall… wow. I have seen some Jane Austen movies, but never read the books, I know they'd bore me, I don't really like her style. 

_2Coolio_: excuse me?

_Inigma_: I'm glad you're shocked :) No idea what kind of serpent it was… I'm no magizoologist ;) No, Dan's misimagining wasn't an accident. Your teacher is really weird :D I'll read your fic in May – I have sworn not to read any fics till the 3r of May. Please, remind me in May!

_starheart20:_ I'm glad I still can surprise you… and you can't imagine HOW surprised you'll be soon.

_Katrina:_ well, Dan won :D I'm glad you found Liu's answers moving. She isn't that terrible, after all, you'll see later that she does have a heart. 

_jennaration_: I hope you'll feel the need to review for the next few chapters… there'll be things coming that you (hopefully) won't be able to leave 'unreviewed' (or put it this way: you won't be able to leave them without yelling at me;) See, none of the boys died. Hungarian lesson (it was a looooong time ago that you asked me to tell you something in Hungarian!): "Please don't do anything evil" is "Kérlek, ne csinálj semmi gonoszat!", the "screw you" means "kapd be!" ;) Feel free to shout 'kapd be' at me in chapters 27-29 :)

_Autumn Dreams_: yes, Dan is definitely Gryffindor material. Yes, John Williams was THE John Williams, I'm a huge fan of his!

_Rab_: glad you liked Snape's birthday :)

_Houou:_ feel free to steal Gilderoy's mirror, he has nine spare ones! 

_Alexander Phoenix_: I'll read your fic in May, I can't do it until then, because I have sworn not to read a single fic till the 3rd of May. Please, remind me after that, okay?

_Tap Dancing Widow_: are you also a Rowan Atkinson fan? Yes, Draco and Gabie WILL admit that they're married, just wait it out. Of course I wouldn't make Dan die saving Kevin!

_Phoenix_Kiss02_: well, I didn't want Kevin to win, because he had been so nasty to poor Dan all along… Dan had to win!

_xaebhal_: glad you liked the idea of the tournament on broomsticks and Gilda's answer ;) In fact I was a bit afraid that people would find her third answer scandalising, but no one did.

_Aimee:_ more suspense coming! :D

_Indigo Ziona_: Pride and Polyjuice was already mentioned in chapter 11 of TGSaWCS, but there no one noticed it. Funny that you and Red Ridding Hood noticed it in the last chapter :)

_Romina:_ glad you liked the quizzes and Gilda's answer. I'm glad I can make your life a bit more 'colourful' :D

_VegaKeep:_ although I have never heard of the phrase 'fear is the mindkiller', I think you referred to my evil cliffie, right? Of course I might be wrong…

_tyleet_: your site is really cool! I took the quiz 'what is your fave ship', and do you know what results it gave me? It said I'm a Harry/Draco shipper! Hahahaha! Never in my wildest dreams would I ship H/D! I was giggling so madly when I got these results ;) 

_aprenticeofdobby: _are you a Cassandra Claire fan, too? ;) Your email address told me so.

_King Jasbon_: thanks :)

_C-chan_: no, I haven't seen The Core and Phone Booth. Is The Core about that mass-destruction? Noooo, Dorothea Crockford doesn't shake the champion's hand :) April May was just a joke. Finite Incantatem is the spell that ends the effect of a previous spell. For example if you cast Petrificus Totalus on someone, then he gets petrified, but if you say Finite Incantatem, he'll get unpetrified. Poisoned Potter? It sounds cool, You're very imaginative, really! You have already proved it by writing Draco's questionnaire for Indigo Ziona. Btw… I've written Gilderoy's questionnaire, and Indigo Ziona promised me to put it into her next chapter! :D

_X-Tow-Naga_: not even Dumbledore can react quick enough, he's an ooooold wizard ;) No idea why the contestants who hadn't gone yet couldn't see the other's duels… I tend to make up stupid rules for Hogwarts, that's all. Haha, I loved the way you rephrased that quiz question with tying Voldie to a chair! :D Thanks for pointing out my grammar mistake, I tend to mistake some words for each other. Well, about the date of the Goblin Revolutions… Rowling always referred to it as 'the Goblin Revolution of 1612', so I just took it from her books. You wrote: "that pun about not being able to remember the ingredients of the forgetfullnes potion was pretty bad" – you know what? I hadn't even realised that it was a pun! It really didn't occur to me… funny that you had to make me realise WHAT exactly I had written ;) Fudge saying "hello, I am me, goodbye"? LOL. But I think that most people would have found that rather suspicious and would have thought that someone had tampered with poor Fudge… Yes, I think you still have the longest review for this fic.

_thecrazygirl:_ more cliffies!!! :D

_seashell:_ wow, you were the only one who managed to find out that someone was tampering with Dan's powers! Clever! 

_Another*Ginny_: I miss Relic Hunter, too! *hugs Nigel* I'm glad you love Home Alone, too, it's really one of the best movies I've ever seen! Yes, of course I know that Chris Columbus did the two HP movies. Now I'm wondering what PoA will be like with a new director… Well, you got it: Harry and Ginny called the basilisk away. Why are you a 'Yeti Reindeer psychopath'? Just wondering… I love yetis and reindeer – you must have guessed it after reading TGSaWCS :)

_Lioness-07863_: I thought that Gilda's most interesting answer was the one about Voldemort, but everyone's fave one was the one about sex – wonder why? ;)

_Lupin's Angel_: no, Chris Columbus won't be a student – but you made me laugh at that, really! :D Voldemort and sex – not together… whew. I'm relieved. I can't imagine those two together, really! Well, I CAN imagine it, but the mere thought repulses me.

_Nefertiri:_ yes, I totally love torturing you with cliffies – and the worst ones are yet to come! Soon you won't hate Liu, I'm sure of that. Well, now you know that it wasn't Daniel who imagined the Basilisk. Oh, I made a mistake! The queen's second maid of honour was Eliza, and the first was Liu. Thanks for pointing that out! What kind of religion project do you have to work on?

_Altec:_ yes, the same person is behind it all. I'm going to read your last chapter in May, no sooner, since I've sworn not to read a single piece of fanfic till the third of May. Please, remind me after 3rd May to read it, okay? Thanks. Although Liu will never be Dan's girlfriend, she'll be quite close to him, so you partly get what you want.

_Mage:_ just freak them out :)

_maureen_: I think Gareth and George are the only names I know from all those you mentioned. Do you know what 'kamion' means in Hungarian? It means truck (the vehicle)! Glad you like Daniel's name ;) Eric is also nice, but I like it more written with a 'k' – Erik just looks much cooler than Eric. Somehow seems 'stronger'. Yes, the same person is behind everything. You think it's Philippe? Hm… why would a common Muggle like Philippe want to conjure a basilisk or make Harry turn on Remus? No, it doesn't make sense. 

_sabby:_ see, Dan didn't lose! But he got expelled… the poor one.

_Inken:_ see, Kevin didn't die! :) You got Beryl/Snape in this chapter, the next B/S will be in chapter 27. The story has 31 chapters put together.

_Elfangor1_9: sorry, but the 'no more cliffies' petition cannot be accepted :D

_Wood's secret lover_: broadband must be cool, I still have a common modem connection. Haha… I loved your 'correction' of my 'typing mistake', LOL. For the time being I'm not likely to read the cliché collection, since I've sworn not to read any fanfics till the 3rd of May. I might read it after that.

_Shazzman_: yes, I also thought it'd be funny to make Gilderoy jealous of Snape's teeth :) Don't worry, I'll post the third chapter of Gadding with Goats in a couple of days, or if not before Easter, then next week.

_SiriDragon:_ was the cliffie at the end of chapter 24 the worst so far? Hm… I don't dare imagine what you'll say in the near future… much worse cliffhangers are coming, so brace yourself!

_Toby Haine_: there'll be something in chapter 27 that you will hate because of its evilness, but you'll surely find it brilliant, too. I must admit that I was very proud of myself when I made up that particular thing, and sometimes I'm still amazed how it could occur to me… You wrote: "who says you have to be in love to go out with someone?" Well, I do, Toby. Believe me, I was going out with a guy whom I liked as a friend, but whenever he snogged me, I felt repulsed. He just wasn't my type of guy, and I'm glad it ended. I could never have fallen in love with him, and getting kissed by someone whom I didn't feel attracted to at all, was terrible… at least for me.

_Sean Mulligan_: of course Tom Parris is from Star Trek Voyager – I mentioned that I was using his name in chapter 3, when Tom got sorted into Gryffindor :)

_Lavendar Brown:_ I'm glad you still think so.

_CloverWeave_: you're the only one who doesn't like the Norbert/Lily ship, then. Glad you liked the boxers thingie.

_ruffled _owl: no, the only Voyager tidbit was Tom Parris' name :)

_Hermione We@sley_: glad you like Daniel :D

_kitch:_ the story has 31 chapters, and I'm glad you like it :D

_Princess Ginny_: glad you found it funny!

_Wizzabee_: no, the power isn't too great for Dan to control, but someone else is controlling it.

_Lady Schezar_: glad you liked the basilisk! CoS came out here on the 11th, too, but I don't have it yet. I've seen it three times in the cinema, I might buy it later on. You know what I found funny about its release date? 11th April is the 'day of poetry' in Hungary and we got CoS that day… somehow it's funny.

_apple-pie_: well, Dan did some imagining in chapter 24, didn't he? You'll find out why Lily's so 'crazy' in chapter 28. Snape finds out about his baby in the next chappie! :D

_candycaneOgram_: you made me giggle when you talked about you and your friend reading my fics :))) No, Kevin isn't that bad, is he? They've finally reconciled.

_Missy_: yes, I guessed that QoBaL was Queen of Beauty and Love :D

_TaMaraR:_ you know that you're the only one who found Gilda's meeting-Voldemort answer the best? All the others loved the sex-is-the-most-important answer the most.

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: no, I'm not likely to kill off the main character. A Hungarian friend whom I have sent the whole story said she was sure around chapter 28 that Dan would die and she was sooo relieved when he didn't! :) Don't worry, in two chapters the story will turn dark, and in four chapters some characters will be killed off. Everything to my readers' pleasure!

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: hehe, it's funny that you were reading backwards! Tatyana/Draco? That's the weirdest ship I've ever read about! Nooo, I wouldn't be so mean to Draco to pair him off with a millennium-old-wench! 

_Black Ice_: yes, I know that it was very obvious that Gilda would win, but I thought: 'let's make something obvious for a change, I'm making too many things totally unpredictable in this fic, I should add something that the readers can guess in advance!'

_Lana Riddle_: and the tendency to stop when it gets really good will continue… in a rather evil way, so be prepared!


	26. Les Miserables

**A/N**: hope you are having a nice Easter. I surely am, since my goat story got a fair share of reviews on Riddikulus – I start to love FictionAlley! ;) Now I can only snigger at my stupidity of having been afraid to post there for years… yeah, I was really stupid!

I thought I'd give a little Easter present by posting this two days earlier than I originally wanted to. This chapter is the last before the 'Big Bang', so just a little bit more patience, and things will finally start to get revealed from the next chapter :)

**Chapter 26**

**Les Miserables**

Daniel took a deep breath and nodded. "I understand, sir. I deserved it."

"No, don't get me wrong, son," Albus put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You are not really expelled – although you'd deserve it -, you just have to leave the school as though you had been expelled. This is just necessary precaution – you have to be kept away from Professor Snape before someone tries to kill him again, using your powers. When the culprit is caught, you'll be welcome back to Hogwarts."

A somewhat happier expression crossed the boy's face, but before he could express his gratitude, Dumbledore cut in: "Who else knows about the chamber besides you?"

"Well…" Dan pursed his lips. He didn't want to tell on his friends, but he just couldn't lie to Dumbledore. "Norbert and Gilda, sir. But they can't have been here again. They are my best friends, and the chamber can only be opened by a descendant of Gryffindor. That page must have been torn out before the book was placed in the chamber, I'm sure about it."

"Yes, that's very likely," the old man nodded.

"Um, sir... what should I tell my parents and friends about my expulsion?"

"I'll talk to your father in person. As for your friends… tell them that parents of several of your schoolmates complained about you conjuring a basilisk… they said you were too dangerous to study at the same school with their children, thus the staff decided to… er… get rid of you."

Dan nodded. "That's a likely tale. I'll tell them."

"Right. Oh, and Daniel, promise me not to mention to anyone that I already know about the chamber. Let it remain our secret."

"I promise, sir."

"Good. When we reach Hogwarts, go and pack your things and say good-bye to your friends. You can also _play_ a bit…" the old wizard gave young Potter an impish grin. "They don't need to know that you are coming back soon."

"But… what if the culprit doesn't get caught? Will I have to stay away from school forever?" Daniel voiced his worry.

"That is something I cannot answer you yet, because not even I know the answer."

* * * * *

"Expelled?" Harry breathed and felt he had to sit down. He dropped himself into the armchair facing the headmaster's desk. "Why, Albus?"

"Calm down, Harry, please," the headmaster told the Charms Professor. 

"How could I calm down, for heaven's sake? My son's expelled! I have never known any wizard except Hagrid and Draco to be expelled from Hogwarts! Why? What has Daniel done?"

"Actually he hasn't done anything." Dumbledore said. "Or rather… I'd say it is a certain-point-of-view-thing."

"What do you mean?" the young father furrowed his brow.

"Your son kept sneaking down to Hogsmeade for the past few months."

"But… that's surely not enough reason to expel him, is it?" Harry frowned, remembering his own secret journeys to Hogsmeade in his third year. "And… what would Daniel be doing at Hogsmeade?"

"When he fell into the wishing-well, he found a secret door in the cave beneath. He figured out that it was the door to a chamber built by none other than Godric Gryffindor."

"Gryffindor?" Harry's eyes widened. "Why… why would Gryffindor build a chamber? I mean… we all know why Slytherin built one, but why Gryffindor?"

"Well, it all comes down to Godric's secret liaison with Rowena Ravenclaw. They had this son, Godwin Potter," Harry nodded. "Gryffindor built this chamber for his son. The chamber is some sort of a library with a lot of information that Godwin could have used. Godric sent an owl to the Potters to let them know about this chamber, but it seems the Potters never got that letter and Godwin never got to know about the chamber. Actually, not many people know that good old Godric was a Seer. It is a rare gift for males, usually only females possess it. However, Godric had these skills and foresaw that Godwin would be an Imaginer. So, he acquired a very rare book for his son – a book on Imaginers. He hoped that Godwin would find it useful. However, Godwin never got to read the book. We can only guess why the Potters didn't receive Godric's letter – it could have been any kind of vis maior. The point is that there's a page missing from the book, and I have a very good reason to believe that that particular page had a description of how someone, an outsider, could control an Imaginer's powers, using them for his own purposes."

"But… what does this have to do with Daniel getting expelled?" Harry asked defiantly.

"A lot, Harry," Albus sighed. "Daniel didn't imagine a huge snake at the tournament. Someone else did. Daniel only carried out that person's will. And today, the Bludgers that went berserk… that was also done by Daniel, but he didn't imagine them. Someone else did, just used your son to accomplish it."

"So… does it… does it work like telepathy? That person imagines something, but as they have control over my son, they can make Daniel carry out what they imagine? Using my son as some sort of a channel?"

"I'm afraid so, Harry," the headmaster nodded.

"And what can be done about this? We can't expose my son to the will of some unknown lunatic!"

"I'm sorry, Harry, but for the time being, I can't help Daniel. That is why I decided to send him away from Hogwarts – so to say _expel_ him – until we find out who has been doing these things and stop them. But without that page, I have no idea how they can be stopped… Difficult, very difficult… I must ask you not to tell anyone the real reason for Daniel's expulsion. Your wife is an exception, of course, but make sure that no one else finds out. We can't be careful enough… the culprit is among us."

* * * * *

"Expelled?" Gilda gasped. "But… but why?"

"Long story," Dan hung his head. "And rather difficult, too."

"But… why would Dumbledore expel you without giving a good reason?" Norbert asked. "That's not like him!"

"He _has_ a good reason, mate," Dan replied. "The pseudo-basilisk I conjured. The parents of many Hogwarts students were scared to death and they fear for their children… that I might conjure a real basilisk and kill them all…"

"But that's… that's the most short-sighted thing I have ever heard!" Norbert huffed. "Parents can't be this stupid! Or even if they are, the staff must have more sense than to expel you!"

Dan shrugged. "It seems that they do not."

"Oh, Dan… I don't want you to leave," Gilda's eyes filled with tears. "I can't imagine Hogwarts without you."

Daniel felt like laughing at her and telling her not to be so sad because he'd be coming back as soon as possible, but he had been told by Dumbledore to _play._ So he did. He stepped to the girl and gently wiped away a droplet of tear from her cheek. "Don't cry for me, Gil. We'll see each other one day again. Maybe right during the summer holidays."

"But… what will become of you if you don't finish your studies here?" she sniffed.

"I could still go to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang…" he shrugged.

"No, don't go to Durmstrang! That's an evil place!" she exclaimed. "That school turns out dark wizards!"

"Oh, you little goose. It was a long time ago when it turned out dark wizards… it's a decent school, just like Hogwarts."

"Never call me little goose," she whispered.

"Then what should I call you? Your Majesty?" he grinned.

Seeing the grin on his face, her heart started to ache even more. He was just trying to look happy, but he must be feeling terrible! His grin couldn't deceive her! She also felt terrible. Miserable. She was losing him… suddenly she closed the one-foot gap between them and flung herself on his neck, embracing him so hard that he almost suffocated. 

"Gil… you're stifling me," he croaked. He was deeply touched by the girl's affections. For him this 'I'm-expelled-and-sad' thing should have been a mere role of a drama he had to play, but with Gilda Lockhart's trembling and weeping form in his arms he started to feel another way. For her, this situation was real; she truly believed that she'd never see him again… possibly for the first time in his life, Daniel understood what empathy was: understanding others' feelings so deeply that he also started to feel them. He had to blink back a tear and bit his lower lip to stop himself from shouting 'it's not real, I'm not expelled!' – he bit it so hard that it started to bleed. 

Before he could realise what was happening, she drew back a bit and plastered her lips to his. This kiss was totally different from the one they had shared on Valentine's Day's night. Back then, it had been innocent and simple, now it was passionate and full of emotions. Pain. Grief. Loss. He ran his hands through her silky, long hair, cupping her chin to hold her in place and kept kissing her as if his life depended on it. He could feel the peculiar taste of blood on her lips – she didn't seem to care that he was bleeding, all she seemed to care for was to hold him as long as she could. He knew that he had to break the magic of the moment. It wasn't easy, but it had to be done by him.

With a resolute motion he pulled back. "I've got to go," he gasped for breath.

She was also breathing hard, one hand plastered over her mouth that had been abandoned by Daniel's lips mere seconds earlier. Tears were now pouring down here cheeks like some tiny cascade. 

He wished he could console her, but he wasn't allowed to. He stepped to Norbert and offered him his hand. Young Malfoy shook it with a sad little smile. "I'll be missing you, Potty. If someone had told me ten months ago that my best friend would be a Potter, I would have cursed them to hell… but it's been great to be your friend."

"It's been great to be your friend, too," Dan nodded, then turned back to Gilda and passed her a parchment. "The Marauder's Map. Would you give it to Kevin or the twins for me? I don't feel like looking for them and start over this emotional saying good-bye stuff."  

"Of course I'll give it to them," she replied. 

"Take care, mate," Norbert added.

"I will," Daniel bent down, scooped up his rucksack and beckoned to Abu to hop onto his shoulder. He gave Gilda a last glance then diverted his stare. "Good bye. See you in summer," and with that he exited the Slytherin common room.

* * * * *

After Dumbledore had announced Daniel's expulsion at dinner, the castle was filled with murmurs about the events: _'Daniel Potter's been expelled! I thought I heard it wrong when the headmaster told us!'_

'Me too! I can't believe it! He has just been named Champion! Why would they expel a champion?'  

Many students found the news highly interesting and kept guessing why Daniel had to leave. Others were not merely interested in knowing the truth, but also felt sorry for the poor boy. 

The twins were unusually silent and Kevin felt miserable. He had just reconciled with his cousin and now he was gone. 

"It was nice of him to give us the Map, though, wasn't it?" Valentine said.

"Yeah…" Viviane nodded. "I thought Snape had long confiscated it… it's strange… yesterday I would have given half my leg to have something like the Map, but now I don't feel happy about it."

"You're not alone," Kevin pouted, pushing away his plate of Yorkshire pudding. He simply couldn't eat. He felt so guilty. Daniel had been expelled because of that silly basilisk… had Kevin not begun that mockery with conjuring a lion, then Daniel wouldn't have conjured a snake at all… young Weasley felt miserable – it was all his bloody fault! On the other hand, he had wanted so badly to make up for everything he had done to Daniel during the school year and now he no more had a chance…

"Where's Lily?" Lancelot spoke up. 

"Dunno. Probably crying somewhere," Val shrugged.

However, Lily wasn't crying anywhere. She was racing down the corridor, towards Harry's office. Her father wasn't present at dinner, so she suspected that she'd find him there. She ripped open the door of his study and stormed in.

"Why?" she shouted.

"Why what?" he blinked, downright terrified by her expression. There were so many emotions on her face: pain, confusion, and fury, fury, fury.

"It's all your fault, Harry!" she yelled, stamping her foot.

"Why, if I may ask?" he crossed his arms and leant back into his chair, trying to look as calm as possible.

"Because you have spoilt him! I have told you that already, haven't I? You have raised him in the belief that he was allowed to do anything and what's the result? He got expelled! You can be very proud of your fatherly skills, Harry!"

Harry had tried to remain calm in vain. He was just as upset about Daniel leaving Hogwarts as Lily was, and Lily had no right to talk to him like that! He had not spoilt his son! Well, a little bit, maybe, but it wasn't the reason why the boy had been expelled. And he couldn't even tell his daughter the real reason… She had no idea that the situation was much more serious than she thought, she had no idea that her brother had scary powers that were endangering other peoples' lives. She had no idea that some lunatic was using her little brother as a tool to kill Snape with. She couldn't imagine what terrible things someone with control over a powerful Imaginer could accomplish! She had no idea that Daniel could cause not only Snape's death but the destruction of whole Hogwarts or the whole wizarding world as well… but Harry was aware of these things. The knowledge settled into his brain, onto his thoughts, crushing them with its terrible weight… he was scared for his son, he was scared for the wizarding world… and insolent little Lily here was shouting at him that he had spoilt Daniel. A cogwheel in his mind broke, causing the one next to it break, sending a tremor throughout his brain, down into his body… he was shaking with suppressed emotions and he couldn't hold them back anymore… it burst out of him like an erupting volcano.

"HOLD YOUR TONGUE!" he yelled at his daughter, jumping up from his seat. "YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!"

She had never heard her father shouting like this. She cringed, both with shock and fear. His eyebrows were knitted and his emerald eyes had narrowed, but they were very clearly gleaming with fury. His hands were balled into fists and he looked like he'd hit her if she uttered another word. She took a step backwards, horror and disgust on her features. "I hate you," she whispered and ran out.

Harry sank back into his chair, pressing his hands to his forehead. It was aching like hell. "Calm down…" he mumbled to himself. "Just your nerves… nothing but your nerves…" he massaged his forehead, trying to chase the excruciating pain away. His eyes started to water and the world became blurry. "What is happening?" he sighed. He hadn't felt so terrible for thirteen years…

* * * * *

Remus Lupin was just about to steer his son into his room and tell him a bedtime story when he saw Harry dash past. Although he still felt mad at his onetime friend, now he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Having your child expelled from Hogwarts couldn't be a nice experience… he hoped that his little James would never get into such a situation.

"Dad…" the boy spoke up, dropping himself on his bed, while his father entered the bathroom. "As Harry Potter ran by us, something occurred to me. Something that I wanted to ask you since morning but forgot."

"What, Jamie?" Remus called from the bathroom. He had just turned on the tap to make a nice bath for his son. 

"Did you really used to be a werewolf?"

Splash.

Remus had fallen into the tub.

"Whaaaat?" Another splash could be heard – he was trying to get out of the water.

He quickly performed a drying charm on himself and padded back into the child's bedroom. "Where did you get that idea?" he asked in a hoarse voice, sitting down next to Jamie. He and his wife had agreed to keep his onetime lycanthropy a secret from their son. Who could have told Jamie?

"I just… heard stuff," the boy shrugged. "Is it true or not?"

"Well… there's no use lying, James. It is. I was indeed a werewolf. Then one day… I stopped being one. Don't ask how, because I don't know."

"But I know," the boy said, reaching for his favourite stuffed yeti. "It was done by Harry Potter."

Remus knitted his brows. "What are you talking about?"

"Harry Potter caught a magic goldfish at Durmstrang," Jamie replied, tossing his yeti from one hand into the other. "And one of the three wishes was to make you a normal human again."

Lupin simply couldn't believe this. "Who told you this?"

"No one. I overheard Daniel Potter telling it to his friends. They didn't see me there. I just heard it and I thought I'd ask you."

Remus's mind was racing. Indeed, Harry _had been_ at Durmstrang at the time he turned back into a human. Harry's son had been a squib… and then he had become a wizard. The fish must have done it! But then… then… Harry had wasted a wish on him! And he had called him selfish! SELFISH! For heaven's sake, how could he?

Remus had never felt so guilty. He had been so nasty to Harry for months! When it had been Harry who had actually given him a life! A real life!

He propped his elbows onto his knees, hiding his face into his palms. He must have remained that way for minutes.

"Daddy?" the little boy reached out to pat his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Remus looked up with a haunted expression. "I just have never felt this stupid before."

* * * * *

Harry didn't know where he was going – for the second time this year. He had felt like this after the fire: aimless, absolutely having no idea what he was doing, where he was going… he just felt he had to go.

The sky was already pitch-black, myriads of stars shining above. The fragrant air of the late-spring/early-summer night cleared his head a bit. He sank down onto a fallen trunk, taking deep breaths, letting the sweet smell of lilacs penetrate his lungs. He felt so confused, so worried, so… he couldn't really express it with words. He wished that this nightmare would end… that everything would be settled… but whenever something seemed to be settled something new cropped up to make his life a hell. His gaze wandered upwards, to the small celestial lights. He caught himself wondering what he would be able to read from the stars if he had paid better attention at Trelawney's classes. 

_Trelawney…_

Damn the old rook, she seemed to be right again!

_Shock after shock, grief after grief…_

His son getting into Slytherin… his friendship to Remus destroyed… Ginny losing their baby… their house burning down and Hedwig dying… Daniel almost dying when falling into that well… Lily hating him with more and more passion every day… Daniel expelled… what was next? 

He didn't dare imagine what could come after these.

Suddenly he felt something nudge him from behind. He jerked out his wand from his pocket and turned around in a split-second to curse any attacker, but only saw Angel, the baby-unicorn standing behind the trunk, eyeing him with her huge amber eyes.

"Hey… I didn't want to scare you with any foolish wand-waving," he whispered, reaching out to stroke the little animal's muzzle. Although Professor Grubbly-Plank had told them in his fourth year that unicorns liked a woman's touch and the younger that woman the better, it seemed that Angel didn't mind an adult male touching her. She nuzzled herself close to Harry, her golden fur shining in the darkness like some unicorn-shaped lamp.

"You also needed some warmth, huh?" he smiled sadly. "I understand. Speaking of warmth…" he realised that he should have paid his family a visit, at least to comfort Ginny. Surely Daniel must have told his mother the reason of his expulsion when he arrived at their Hogsmeade home hours earlier, but she needed Harry's explanation as well… "I must visit my wife," he told the small animal, feeling a bit silly that he was talking to her – could she understand him at all? "Be a good girl, okay?" he gave Angel a final pat and headed down the path towards the wizard village.

* * * * *

He found Ginny in the garden. Although it was already eleven p.m., she was sitting in the arbour near the pond, listening to the frogs' croaking and the little noises of the crickets. She couldn't sleep. She was way too upset for that. 

Daniel had come home hours earlier. At first Ginny had had no idea what her son could be doing at their gate late in the evening. Then he had told her.

She had thought she'd die on the spot. Expelled. Her son expelled! The boy had dropped his luggage and embraced his mother, whispering, "It's okay, mum, it's not for real. They didn't even snap my wand in half."

She had had no idea what to say, so she had steered him inside and he had told her the details. She had been appalled to hear about a chamber built by Godric Gryffindor and had been scared to get to know that Daniel had been controlled by someone – that someone had had him on a string, playing with him like a puppeteer with a marionette…

Now Daniel was up in his room, probably sleeping peacefully. But Ginny couldn't find her peace. Her mind was in turmoil, trying to find out who and why would use her son like that… suddenly the gate opened and she got shaken out of her reveries.

"Harry?" she whispered, jumped up and hurried towards him. At midway between the gate and the pond they met in a tight hug.

"Oh, Harry…" she trembled in his arms. "What is going on here?"

"I wish I knew, Gin," he sighed. "Daniel told you what has happened, hasn't he?"

"Yes he did… but I don't understand a thing. What evil creature would treat him like that? And why use _him_ to do away with Snape? Why our son?"

"I don't know. But we'll find out, sweetheart. We will."

"This is… so much of a mystery to me. The chamber, that book, the rogue Bludgers… I'm afraid for Daniel. He is so powerful… and if his powers are used for bad, then… I can't and don't want to imagine what will happen."

He had no idea what to answer, how to calm her down, because he was just as worried and confused as she was. Their son was indeed powerful. _Powerful beyond imagination_ – in both senses of the word. He just didn't want to imagine what an Imaginer under bad influence was capable of… So, instead of talking, he only held her, caressing her hair and nuzzling his face into her neck.

"Touch me, Harry," she whispered.

"I _am_ touching you," he whispered back.

"Not that way," she pulled back a bit. "I need you. I need your warmth and love," she cupped his face and stared into his beautiful eyes that looked a velvety dark-green in the darkness of the night. "Just love me, Harry… and make me forget about everything."

"As you wish, my lady," he said softly and wanted to scoop her up to carry her into the house, but she motioned him to stop.

"Not in there."

"Then… where?" he looked around then it suddenly dawned on him. "You… you don't mean that you want it… here? Outside?"

"We have done it in quite peculiar places, Harry. So why not try it here?"

"Because anyone could see or hear us. You're a screamer, dear."

She let out a small chuckle. "I think I'll be able to stop myself from screaming. Come," she took his hand and led him back into the arbour that encircled them with its intertwined vines, obscuring the outside world. Nothing else existed but the two of them and those few frogs croaking in the pond.

He lowered her gently to the grass and started showering her face and neck with feather-light kisses. All of a sudden, he stiffened and pulled back a bit.

"What?" she groaned, feeling very 'Harry-deprived'.

"That frog," he whispered. "It's watching us."

She giggled and pulled out her wand, sending a Stunner at the unfortunate animal. "Now he's not watching anymore. Really, dear, when did you develop this 'someone's-watching-us'-complex?"

He blushed. "The very first time we made love in the Prefect's Bathroom. Myrtle turned out to have seen it all."

"Really?" she wrinkled her nose. "Well, she's not here at the moment… so, what are you waiting for?" with that she grabbed his robes and pulled him down to her, plastering her lips to his. Daniel's expulsion and the mysterious person machinating with Dan's powers were forgotten, along with the frogs in the pond.

* * * * *

Draco was in a bad mood. Very bad mood, indeed. He was coming home from his bank, fuming. His bank was running fine; no goblins had been threatening him with anything for a while, so he should have been a happy and satisfied man. Still, he wasn't.

For one, there was that thing with his parents. Lucius and Narcissa had allegedly left the country for some secret Ministry of Magic mission, but supposedly they should have left at least some of their house-elves behind. But they hadn't. 

Draco had visited Malfoy Manor for a couple of times in the last few weeks, but the building and its park were deserted. A deserted building, though, should have been covered with dust and cobwebs. However, Draco was a keen observer and it occurred to him that there was no dust or cobwebs in the manor. It looked as tidy as always. But the house-elves weren't there. Then… who had been keeping it clean? He had no idea. 

Dumbledore had met Cornelius Fudge about two weeks ago to question him about Lucius Malfoy's mission, but the Minister of Magic seemed to know nothing about it at all. Certainly, if the mission had been so secret, then the Minister wouldn't talk about it, but Albus had told Draco about Fudge's reaction when he asked the question. "_He looked surprised. Cornelius has never been good at hiding his emotions. They always show on his face, and they did this time as well. When I asked him about your father and mother's mission, his eyes widened in surprise. Then he said that he had no idea what I was talking about. I knew that he wasn't lying. I usually notice when people are lying to me, and Cornelius wasn't. He really had no idea about a mission. Thus, there is no mission. I asked Fudge whether he had seen Lucius at all, but he said he hadn't,_" – Dumbledore's words echoed in Draco's mind.

So, there was no mission. His father had made it up. But why? Something told young Malfoy that his father was up to something. He just hadn't the vaguest idea what. Neither did he know how the missing skeleton of Tatyana Fiodrovna fit into the puzzle.

Then there was Gabrielle's case. If this Lucius-business hadn't been driving Draco crazy enough, then Miss Delacour (Mrs. Malfoy, for the time being) would have.

She hadn't been talking to him since the last day of the tournament. All right, that had been only yesterday, but to Draco, it seemed to be an eternity. He wanted her. He wanted her as badly as he had never wanted a woman… but she was ignoring him. A Malfoy had never been ignored before! This was scandalising! Scandalising, yet tantalising. He felt he'd go mad with desire if she kept playing the ice queen any longer… speaking of desire… Draco heard strange noises as he entered his garden. 

"Kitty-kitty-kitty…" he bent down, looking for some stray cat. There was none. He shrugged and walked towards his house. Then he heard it again. "_Lumos,_" he said quietly, holding out his wand in front of himself. One could never be careful enough… who knew, some goblins might be lurking in the bushes, waiting for the opportunity to attack him… but no. Goblins never used to purr and… moan… and chuckle. He squinted into the neighbouring garden, seeing a bush shake madly. "Damn you, Potter," he whispered. "Why is that I never get any?"

* * * * *

For the next few days, the students of Hogwarts barely talked about anything else but Daniel Potter's expulsion. Lily Potter kept sending her father dark glances, making him shiver every time she looked at him. Her green eyes were icy. He wished she'd listen to him, but she wasn't willing to. Harry had never known a child so hostile to its father before. Perhaps only Dudley when he hadn't got as many presents as he had expected. But Dudley's tantrums couldn't be compared to Lily's silent hatred. For he knew that it was pure hatred and disgust radiating from her eyes. It made him very sad and he cursed the moment he had let Cho kiss him in the changing room. On the other hand, he had the impression that the Cho-incident had only triggered something in Lily – something that had been lurking in her for a long time. Seeing her father snogging another woman was just the last straw for her. Harry wondered what the first straw had been… somehow, he felt that something was amiss with his daughter. Something had been seriously amiss with her for months. But what?

Harry noticed that it wasn't only his daughter who had problems. Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to be spending more and more time with Gilda who seemed very broken. Harry knew that she had been a close friend of Daniel's, although he had had no idea _how close_ a friend she had been. Gilda had also magicked back her original hair-length and looked rather boyish than girlish again. 

Even the always so chipper twins looked slightly depressed, while Kevin was not only slightly depressed – he was blaming himself a lot for not having reconciled with Dan any sooner. It was only Lancelot who dared mention once that Daniel had deserved what he got because he had always been up to no good. With this declaration, he earned a new punch in the nose from Kevin and a jelly-leg jinx from Valentine. Speaking of Valentine, she was still infatuated with Snape, but she had finally erased those little hearts from her timetable. And speaking of Professor Snape – he had recovered from his injuries and was working again, but didn't seem the same. He seemed a bit jittery, as though he was afraid that someone would cast the Killing Curse on him any second. Harry couldn't blame him for it. Snape wasn't exactly young anymore – he was about 55 and had quite many grey hairs and wrinkles. Well, he had gone through a lot, which could explain his nervousness. He also kept avoiding the caretaker for some reason. His teeth, though, were still wonderfully shiny, and Gilderoy Lockhart was still envious of them.

About a week after the unfortunate Quidditch match, when Harry thought that nothing could surprise him anymore, he saw the Minister for Magic enter Dumbledore's office. He wondered what Fudge could be doing here at a time when there was nothing for the Ministry to do at Hogwarts. Fudge looked jumpy about something. Harry knew that it wasn't his business, so he made a mental shrug and hurried off to class with the sixth-year Ravenclaws.

* * * * *

"Have a seat, please, Cornelius," the headmaster said with a jovial smile. "To what do I owe the honour of your visit?"

"Well, you won't be smiling like that when you get to know the news, Albus," the Minister for Magic replied, pinching his striped trousers to be able to sit down.

"Hm… you look and sound somewhat… jittery. A cup of tea?" 

"No, thank you," Fudge shook his head, his beady little eyes twitching with nervousness.

"Then… may I know the reason of your visit?"

"Well… there's some disturbing news, Albus," Cornelius said, crumpling his lime-green bowler hat. "From Azkaban."

The headmaster gave him a bemused stare. "Have the Dementors started kissing each other?" 

"Don't joke with this, Albus, this is a serious matter!" Fudge said through gritted teeth. "I got to know that the prisoners – well, the Death Eaters - have been having problems… with their marks."

"Their Dark Marks?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly. They have been giving them pains for a while. Allegedly, the marks do not look red or black, but the skin around them is burning. Albus… you don't think… you don't think that _he_ is back?"

"Of course I don't, Cornelius!" the old wizard waved indignantly. "Voldemort can't have returned."

Fudge cringed, hearing the name of Voldemort. "What… what makes you so sure about it?"

"He died," Albus leant back into his armchair, resting his hand on Fawkes who had flown into his lap. "Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger Weasley and Severus Snape saw him die."

At the mention of Snape's name, Fudge snorted irritably. He clearly still held Severus for a Death Eater. "I know. They said that You-Know-Who's body exploded and turned into some column of fire, but… what if he only lost his body and powers again, but his soul kept living in our world, just like the first time? What if he managed to gather enough power to return fully again?"

"Cornelius," Albus gave the other man a meaningful look. "_He died_. He did not only lose his powers and body, but he really died. And can't have come back."

"Then… what about… reincarnation? I for one don't believe in it, but… who knows?"

"It is out of the question, Cornelius. Wizards and witches who have murdered people out of evilness in their lives are denied the chance to be reborn. You should have read _'Death and beyond'_, an excellent book."

"But… Albus… can't books be mistaken?"

"Well… certainly they can. But not this one. There is no knowledge of even one single dark witch or wizard reincarnating. Trust me that Voldemort hasn't, either."

"Then what do you explain the Dark Marks with?" the Minister demanded.

"For the time being, Cornelius, nothing. There are too many questions at the moment that I don't know the answers for. This is one of them. Rest assured that we'll find out."

"Find out, eh?" Fudge snapped. "But what if we find out too late?"

* * * * *

The Minister had barely left the headmaster's office when a new visitor arrived: Cho Chang.

"Sorry to disturb you, Professor," she said, "but I need to talk to you."

"You do not disturb me in the least. What can I help you with?" Albus forced a smile to his face, though he didn't really feel like smiling after Fudge's news.

"Well… the problem is that one of my restaurants in the United States has gone bankrupt and I have to travel there immediately. You may wonder what this has to do with my visit, so… I have a bad feeling, Professor. A feeling telling me that something will happen and I'll never see my daughter again…" she lifted her head to look into Dumbledore's eyes, and he saw that she was on the verge of tears. "Professor, I might be just paranoid, but my feelings have never proven to be wrong yet. I had the same bad feeling before the third task… before Cedric's death. I just want to make sure that if something… happens to me, then my daughter will be taken care of. That is why I'm here."

"Yes? I'm listening, Miss Chang," Albus nodded.

"Well, the point is that Liu has always wanted a big, happy family. I have never been able to give it to her. But if something should happen to me, she'll be left alone. I do not have any relatives left, no one who could take care of her, no one who could offer her the family she has always wanted. I'd like to… to ask you to talk to Harry Potter. If I don't return from this journey, then… ask him to take care of my Liu. He has the big, happy family that my daughter needs."

"I understand, Miss Chang, but… may I ask why you don't go to him and ask him personally?"

"Well… the fact is that… Harry doesn't want to see me. At least I don't think he does. He is mad at me, for a good reason that I do not wish to reveal…" she pursed her lips. "I just cannot go there and ask him. But you can… I love my daughter more than anything, Professor… and I just want to secure her a happy future. No doubt that she'll have enough money for a whole life, given my restaurants' incomes, but money cannot substitute a family, can it?"

"Certainly it can't," Albus replied. "If this is your wish, I will talk to Harry… but only if something happens to you, which I hope will not."

Cho gave him a small smile. "Thank you," she was just about to stand up when her glance fell on a book on the headmaster's desk. "Oh, the book of Imaginers!"

Albus knitted his eyebrows. "You _know_ this book?"

"Yes, I do. I have seen a copy of it in the National Wizarding Library of Arizona," she replied. "I remember it quite clearly, because I spent a lot of time in that library when I used to live in the States. I even read into it."

"It is most curious, Miss Chang. Do you know that only two copies of this book exist? Only two copies in the whole world?"

"Really?" she looked surprised. "Interesting."

"Miss Chang, I offer you a deal," the headmaster said. "I accompany you to your bankrupt restaurant and defend you from anything bad that you fear could happen to you, and in return you accompany me to that library. I need to see that book."

"Well, certainly, Professor. But… why is that book so important, if you have one copy yourself?"

"Because, dear Miss Chang, there is one page missing from this one, and I hope to find that page in its brother."

* * * * *

Snape was about to teach the seventh years some very tricky cross-species changing potion the following day, and there was one ingredient he didn't remember, no matter how much he strained his mind. The description of that particular potion was in only one book – _My true love – Potions_, and he had lent that book to Mr. – er, Miss – Bradley before Christmas. Though he disliked the idea of visiting the caretaker very much, he had no other choice if he wanted to give a proper lecture to the seventh years.

So, he headed for Bradley's room. He knocked on the door, but no one answered. Perhaps the caretaker wasn't 'at home'. But it was already ten p.m., so what would she be doing away?

Snape didn't ponder this, but looked around to make sure that no one was near, and for the second time in his life, he sneaked into Bradley's room. He felt a bit guilty, but he was just taking back a book that belonged to him, so why have pangs of remorse?

The room was totally dark, so the Professor whispered _Lumos_, and the beam of light fell on the opposite wall. He almost dropped his wand.

There was a script on the wall in shining silver letters:

YOU SEEM TO BE RESISTANT TO DEATH, SNAPE, BUT SHE ISN'T

Snape gulped and directed his wand downwards, illuminating the prone body of the caretaker lying right under the script. The situation was so much like those attacks nineteen years earlier… but there was no basilisk anymore, was there? 

He rushed to Bradley and patted her face, but she didn't react. Her eyes were closed and she was cold, as though she were dead. Severus touched her neck and felt a very faint throbbing. "Thanks heaven," he sighed. She was still alive.

He scooped her up and hurried up to the infirmary.

"Sorry to bother you at such a late hour, Poppy, but this is urgent."

The old matron yawned and motioned the Potions Professor to place Bradley on a nearby bed.

"What happened to her?"

"I don't know, Poppy, but I think she must have been cursed or poisoned," Severus croaked, his face paler than ever before. "Can you save her?"

"I'll do everything in my power," Madame Pomfrey nodded and pulled off the robes of the unconscious woman to be able to run a scanning-charm on her. While Pomfrey's eyebrows knitted with concentration and concern over the patient's condition, Snape's eyebrows raised high, seeing the quite distinct bulge of the caretaker's belly – a bulge that had been concealed by her robes.

He staggered backwards and had to sit down on a neighbouring bed, not feeling his legs to be strong enough to support his weight.

She was pregnant. Very possibly with _his _child… and he hadn't even known! He bloody well should have realised it! At least after she had collapsed in March! But no, he had been so damn blind! He had never felt like such an idiot before, neither had he felt so miserable… she was with a child… and she seemed to be dying.

**A/N:** getting eviler and eviler, huh? ;)

_Inken_: yes, all teachers but Snape voted for Dan. Dan and Gilda will get together in chapter 30. No, Ginny won't find out about that kiss. I think I have written enough of 'Ginny-being-jealous' in TGSaWCS, I don't want to write such things anymore. Yes, the Greatest Enemy is the one who's controlling Dan. And yes, he/she has been introduced already. You'll find out who they are in the next chapter (yay, finally!)

_Alexander Phoenix_: yes, I admit, I'm very bad ;)

_2Coolio:_ mean, yes. And it'll get meaner.

_jennaration:_ What does HMPH mean? Just curious. Or is that just a 'snort-sound'? Glad you like my language, LOL.

_CloverWeave:_ you wrote: "is it a new enemy, and old enemy, or so-called friend that's controlling Dan?" I can tell you one thing: you'll find out in the next chapter. MWAHAHA!

_Makayla P_.: a playstation? That's cool, I never had one. But I'm not really into computer games, so I don't miss it.

_xaebhal:_ well, you saw Harry and Ginny's reaction to Dan's expulsion.

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: yes, of course it's a safety issue. Yes, Tatyana would the obvious. Probably that's why it isn't she ;)

_Katrina:_ Lily controlling Dan? Weird idea. Yeah, Remus is nasty, isn't he? But he won't stay that way forever! Are you Chinese? I never knew! :) Do you live there, or did only your ancestors live there? When was the page torn… that is the question. And I'm not telling right now! *evil grin*

_Tap Dancing Widow_: hehe, glad you liked the 'because of my teeth' part!

_Red Ridding Hood_: yeah, Cho's despicable, isn't she? *Agi grins at Bucky, her number one friend in Cho-hating* Yes, I've seen some episodes of Seventh heaven, I liked it, it was cute. What's the difference between no and not? Hm… can't explain. You've got to 'feel' which one to use, and sometimes even I tend to mix them up.

_figgiesblazin_: one week isn't that long, is it?

_ArgiCallista:_ thanks for pointing out my mistake, sometimes I write new instead of knew and now instead of know.

_Lioness-07863_: you thought it wasn't Dumbledore? Did you think it was a clone, or someone who polyjuiced himself to be Dumbledore? Hehe… no, it was really Albus, trust me. 

_Toby Haine_: I hope I CAN outdo myself in the next chapter, and in the chapter after that one. You'll be very surprised at certain things. Thanks a lot, Toby… I felt myself grinning all along when I read your review. And yes, I'm exactly as modest as you think I am :)

_C-chan:_ yes, that's why I made James Lupin so talkative :) Yes, I absolutely LOVE Lee's comments, they're so funny! LOL, that parody must have been good, Harry trying to catch a Bludger instead of the Snitch. Of course Albus expelled him to protect the others :) I don't think I'll watch The Core, I don't like the catastrophe-films, but recently I've seen a very hilarious movie: Johnny English with Rowan Atkinson. I can recommend it to everyone!

_Mage_: no, it isn't Tatyana. She's fits into the puzzle in another way.

_Inigma:_ hm… maybe. No problem with twisted minds, my mind is totally twisted, too :D

_SiriDragon:_ Beryl and Snape will shove their pride into bags in the next chapter – finally :) Glad you liked Gilderoy's colour-blindness.

_Princess Ginny_: Lily will forgive Harry soon… in two chapters.

_King Jasbon_:  when is your birthday? Anyway, happy birthday! Don't be mad at me please, but I can't send you the rest of the fic… I'm not the type to favour anyone like that. The only person whom I sent it got it because she's Hungarian like me (hehe, that's evil discrimination, isn't it?;)

_Wizzabee:_ I hope you no more find Dan's expulsion fishy. I promise you that Ginny won't find out about the Harry/Cho kiss. 

_maureen_: my fave girl's name is Lily, too :) Oh, so a linguistics expert made up Parseltongue? That's interesting. So, I made you dislike Cho? Hm… funny… other people told me I made them like Gilderoy, I never thought my fics had such effect on people's attitudes towards certain characters. LOL. Lily won't tell her mum about the kiss. Beryl couldn't have placed Quietus on Snape, since she's a Muggle.

_Lana Riddle_: yes, poooor Dan!

_PheonixFire_: no, I'm not crazy, I can assure you of that. Dan HAD TO be expelled for plot reasons, it's a strategic move. Tatyana's spirit in the well? Whew, that's an interesting idea. Now come on, she DOESN'T live in Lily! 

_Houou: _what? Dan tampered with school property? LOL. Snape's teeth as school property? Even bigger LOL! What does AWOL mean? No, Lucius doesn't have another person's spirit in his body. What's Kool AId?

_Nefertiri:_ Philippe using Tatyana's powers? Oh my, you people make up the weirdest theories ever! I'm proud of you all, you're so imaginative! I haven't read And Then There Were None, I've only read one Agatha Christie book, and I don't know its English title. No, Albus isn't evil. Lily the evil? Hm… that's interesting again. Now you see that Remus thinks that Harry isn't selfish. 

_goldenstar555_: yes, the poor one :(

_Missy:_ I hope you didn't think this was a bad/boring chapter. Your signature is nice, but don't you think it's a bit too long? Anyway, I love the way you used § instead of s :)

_BigDaddy753_: thanks :D

_Lady Marie_: I hate Cho, too!

_apple-pie_: yes, the one who torn out the page is the Enemy. Glad you liked the 'because of my teeth' part ;)

_VegaKeep:_ yes, probably Dan shouldn't have let on that he was breaking rules, but he knew that he had to tell Dumbledore if they ever wanted to catch the one controlling him.

_Chrissi:_ thanks a lot! Many people have told me already that I've improved a lot since TGSiHH, but it always makes me happy when they tell me again and again! :D I started writing TGSiHH two years ago (in May of 2001), and I've learnt a lot since then, both in spelling/grammar and style. When I re-read TGSiHH, I also realised that it was pretty childish and TGEEF is much more 'grown-up'. 

_sabby:_ no, Harry and Ginny wouldn't be mad at Dan, they're just sad. Glad you liked the last chapter :)

_Sky_: who was ignored? Who died? Yes, last chapter was really evil, but the evilest part is yet to come.

_Saiyuki Parker_: I haven't been smoking anything, don't worry… but when we reach chapter 28, you might ask again if I had been smoking something ;)

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: yes, you're right about Lily. It's Gilderoy, not gildory :) I'm not the type to kill off too many people, sorry.

_Myr Halcyon_: don't worry, all Dan and Gilda will do is kiss. I promised my readers at the beginning of this fic that no underage people will have sex in it, and I keep my word. Glad you like Lily's personality (you're the only one who does). Aha, you referred to the Romantic era… I should have realised, stupid me! What does your dress for the prom look like?

_GdCharlotte:_ I'm glad you like the evil stuff :)

_Altec:_ Dumbledore expelled Dan for security reasons, not because he had been breaking rules. 

_AmandaPanda_: well, the expulsion got explained, didn't it?

_seashell:_ this 'someone's using Tatyana's powers' is an interesting theory, but I'm sorry, it's incorrect. Yeah, I named Beryl intentionally, because beryl was something the chemical formula of which I managed to find and I thought it'd be fun to include into the fic the way I'm going to do in the next chapter. You'll find out who's behind everything in the next chapter. And no, it's not a new random character. Haha, I also would like to use a hair-growing charm, my hair also grows extremely slowly! I didn't want to describe Dan's feelings when those things with the Bludgers happened, because I wanted to keep the readers unknowing for a while… I love it when I can confuse you ;) I don't think that Neville will turn bitter just because everyone cheered Harry. He's not the type to want to be famous. No, it wasn't Dan who set the spiders on Snape, he just stopped the spiders from killing Snape. Neither did he set fire to the house. I can't explain why I loathe Cho, but I've never liked her – and I'm not alone with this, there are lots of people who hate her, too. No, Lily isn't an Imaginer in any way. And her bad temper has nothing to do with P.M.S. ;) No, the miscarriage wasn't done by Dan, either. Dan isn't the type to think of suicide. Gilderoy does nothing to Gred and Forge, he's just angry with them. You pictured Dan telling 'I did it' really well! :D About the missing page: wait till chapter 28 and 29, and you'll find out. 

_Kit Cloudkicker:_ yes, I love keeping you on pins and needles! :D

_Phoenix_Kiss02_: perhaps you'll manage to like Lily later, just wait it out. 

_Wood's secret lover_: no, Dan isn't the type to sit at home and cry! Magical Garbage Man is just a pun, I already used it in TGSiHH, because its acronym is MGM, like that of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. 

_Romina:_ yes, Voldemort did die in TGSiHH. I'm not doing a sequel for this fic, but after reading OotP I'll surely find new topics to write about :) The story has 31 chapters.

_kitch_: no, this fic is the final one in the trilogy, it won't have any sequels. I might write outtakes to my trilogy, just like _Starry Night and Racoon Bite_ and _Gadding with Goats_, but they'll be short, since they're just outtakes. I post one chapter a week.

_Indigo Ziona_: I totally agree with you about Snape. I don't think that he's still a virgin at the age of forty-something, but I think he surely didn't have many women… he's just not the type. The Snape/Hermione fics irritate me a lot, once I read two such fics and never again. Glad you liked my portrayal of Snape's inner struggle :D No, in fact Ginny will never get to know about Harry and Cho kissing. Your guess about James Lupin was right :)

_dipstick:_ yes, you're on the right track :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: I liked your theory, sounds really imaginative, but of course it's incorrect. 

_K. C. Hunter_: nice to see you again! I'm always so happy if a 'lost' reader returns! :D 

_JenniferW:_ no, Beryl isn't the resurrected Tatyana. Dan's expulsion was for security reasons.

_heavenly182angel_: the cliffie at the end of chapter 25 wasn't the ultimate torture for my devoted readers. The real torture is yet to come!

_Elfangor19_: no, not Tatyana.

_Punky Poet_: no, it isn't Tatyana.

_The Millenium One_: since Albus wanted everyone to believe that Dan had been expelled, not suspended, he rather used the word expelled (although we know that it's really just a suspension).

_Angela:_ I totally understand what you mean, and all I can say is wait for the Dan/Gilda discussion in chapter 30, and I can assure you that you'll be satisfied with me :)

_XR:_ sorry, I've never been good at Chemistry.

_TaMaraR_: Harry didn't really cheat on Ginny… it was just a kiss, after all.

_ruffled owl:_ well, Harry did come close to a nervous breakdown in this chapter, didn't he? And even worse things are coming for the poor guy… *sniff, sniff* I'm so evil to him!

_Kamatazi Yumi_: well, Gilda got rid of her long hair, didn't she? :) Glad you think I still have 'the spark' :D No, I haven't read Not Really a Weasley. Who is it about? I mean, which Weasley?

_Zenon Lee_: glad to see ya again! The Hogwarts festivities are over, so the tragic match can't affect it. About Tatyana's possible resurrection… wait till chapter 29 and you'll find out. The same stands for Lucius' involvement.

_Katie Bell:_ are you shocked? ;) Btw, thanks for reviewing on Riddikulus!

_Kristen Michelle_: you know what? I have actually thought of you today: 'what could have happened to Kristen Michelle?' And then I got a review from you… I was so happy! So, you think I can't top Hedwig being killed. Oh… I'm sure I can ;)

_Laura_: I'm glad you like my fics so much :) When you wrote that you were sorry that Minerva wasn't pregnant, I started giggling uncontrollably… you know, originally I was playing with the thought of making her pregnant, but I decided against it, since other women are pregnant in the fic: Ginny and Beryl. Glad you liked the Minerva/Aberforth pairing :D The only one who voted for Kevin was Snape, all the other teachers voted for Dan.

_Any last requests_: thanks for pointing out that mistake with the kiwi. Yeah, we in Hungary use the word for the fruit. Yes, the one controlling Dan and making Lily be so weird is the same.

_Relena_: thanks for reviewing. Don't worry, your English is quite good :) Yes, I know that TGSiHH is being translated into French by Sabrinette, she asked for my permission and I let her translate it :)


	27. Nightmare

**A/N: **well, since you have been so nice to me and commented so willingly on chapter 26, I've decided to post this chapter after three days, so you don't have to wait a whole week for an update. Aren't you proud of me?

Imagine, I got an 'invitation' to post my arts to w w w. phoenixtears. com, I'm so proud! :) (link is in my bio)

There are three Star Wars references in this chapter. Can you find them?

This chapter is dedicated to _kitch_ and _King Jasbon_, who will have birthday in a couple of days. 

I thought I'd give you the list of characters you have so far accused of being The Greatest Enemy:

· Daniel

· Harry

· Cho

· Draco

· Trelawney

· Tatyana

· Peter Pettigrew

· Sirius

· Remus

· Voldemort

· Madame Rosmerta

· Snape

· Salazar Slytherin

· Gilderoy

· Norbert

· Petunia

· Rudolph

· Angel

· Bradley

· Philippe

· Kevin

· Vicar Diggle

· Lily

· Aberforth

· Albus

· Ron

· Cornelius Fudge

· Karkaroff

Fun, eh? Well, you don't need to keep guessing anymore :)

**Chapter 27**

**Nightmare **

Madame Pomfrey had indeed done everything in her power to save the caretaker's life, but it seemed to be not enough. Bradley was getting paler and paler by every passing minute. Neither Pomfrey, nor Snape knew the curse that had brought the woman into such a condition. Snape had to admit that there were Dark Arts that not even he knew about, no matter how much of dark magic he had learnt during his years as a Death Eater.

Now all they could do was wait and hope that the matron's remedies – that she had given the unfortunate patient at random, having no idea what she was supposed to cure – would help.

At about three a.m., Bradley's condition seemed to have stabilised enough for Poppy to hurry up to deputy-headmistress McGonagall and let her know about the attack. Certainly Snape could have gone instead, but he insisted on staying with the caretaker.

As the door shut behind the matron's back, Severus knelt down next to Bradley's bed and took her hand into his.

"Listen…" he whispered, knowing that she couldn't hear him, "I… I'm sorry. It was all my fault. Whoever wants to kill me had a go at you to hurt me. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been attacked. I'm so sorry, B… I don't even know your name…" he brought her tiny hand to his lips and kissed it gently, scolding himself for being so dim for so long as not to realise what pretty, feminine hands she had… how could he have been so blind not to see that _he_ was a woman? And what a wonderful woman she was! She liked Chemistry, she liked Potions… she liked him.

Snape gulped and reached out with his free – thoroughly shaking – hand to touch the gentle mound of her belly. Was it his child in there? His or… Longbottom's? Severus felt a wave of nausea coming over him at the idea of Bradley carrying Neville's child. He shook his head. He couldn't think of the child's paternity right now, when this woman was dying… this woman whom he loved.

Yes, finally he had admitted it to himself that he loved her. He loved her cleverness, he loved the way she loved Potions, he loved the way she quarrelled with him… he loved the way she kissed…

"Don't die, please…" he whispered, bending his forehead onto the pillow next to her face. "Don't die. I love you."

Suddenly, he felt a small squeeze at his hand and looked up to see Bradley's eyes half-open, staring at him in a sleepy sort of way. She looked crushed, but she was alive, and she had woken up.

Seeing Snape's expression that was a mixture of surprise, rapture and relief, she gave him a faint smile. "Beryl," she said quietly.

"What?" he blinked.

"My name. It's Beryl."

"Beryl?" a huge smile spread on his face. "That's a pretty name. Much prettier than Bert, you know. A gem, right? Its noble variants are emerald and aquamarine. It's formula is… Be3Al2Si6O18."

"Bravo, Professor," she smiled feebly. "It's correct."

"Call me Severus, Beryl," he whispered.

"All right, Severus. Severus?"

"Yes?"

"It isn't your fault. You can't be blamed. I… I don't know who's been trying to kill you, but… don't blame yourself for this attack."

"How could I not blame myself?" he sighed. "The attacker wanted to hurt me. They must have got to know that… that I had certain… feelings for you…"

"Certain feelings?" she grinned. "And what sort of feelings?"

"Oh, come on, you seem to have heard everything I told you while you were… or _supposedly_ were unconscious. You must have heard this one, too."

"Yes, I have… perhaps that was what brought me back to life," she said. "But it felt so good to hear it that I'd like to hear it again."

"Okay… I love you."

"That wasn't the way you said it the last time," she pouted.

"Then… how?" he knitted his eyebrows.

"Try it again," she shrugged.

"All right. I love you."

"Once more."

"I love you. Have you seen your attacker at all?"

"Hey, what kind of love declaration is that?" she gave him an accusing glance. "_'I love you, have you seen your attacker?_' Honestly. I haven't seen them. They must have cursed me from behind."

"And don't you remember the incantation or anything?"

"No, I don't," she replied, this time clearly miffed. "Would you leave, please? I'm tired."

"No, I'm not leaving. _I love you_."

Her eyes flashed with happiness. "See, you can say it that way!"

"Has anyone doubted it?" he grinned, bending down to kiss her. Before their lips could meet, she jerked away. "He's moved!" she breathed.

"What?" he furrowed his brow.

"The baby!" Beryl put her hand over her belly. "He moved for the first time! Kicked me or something…" her face didn't show any kind of tiredness or any remains of sickness anymore. Instead, it radiated happiness and vividness. "He's moved, Severus."

Snape knew that it was time for him to ask the question. "Is it… mine?"

Her expression changed from happy to scandalised. "How can you ask me such a question? After all that happened between us in the Shrieking Shack?"

"Now wait a minute!" he held up his hands in a defence-position. "I was drunk, remember? I have no idea what happened there between us! Well… I sort of suspected, but back then I thought you were a male, and I thought that I was gay," he ran his fingers through his black hair, "and… oh, Beryl, I was so embarrassed…" he lifted his stare to look into her soft brown eyes. "And I still don't know why you pretended to be a male."

"I was on the run, Severus. My ex-husband Philippe was in prison for bank-robbery and embezzlement, and who knows what else… I had helped the police to round him up. Over the summer, he escaped from jail and I knew that he wanted to take revenge on me… I had to find a place where he couldn't find me. Then Neville asked Dumbledore whether a Muggle acquaintance of his could take on the caretaker's vacant job, and Dumbledore agreed, on one condition: I had to pretend to be a man, because Hogwarts wasn't supposed to employ female caretakers… I promised the headmaster and kept my promise. That's my story."

"So… Longbottom got you the job?" Snape grunted, suddenly looking peeved. 

"Yes, he did, because he has such a huge heart," Beryl replied.

"You really care for him, don't you?" 

She nodded.

"Well, listen," he went on, "I understand. I… won't stand in your way…"

She knitted her eyebrows then suddenly burst into a peal of giggles. "No, it's not like that at all – Neville is my brother-in-law."

"Brother…in-law?" the always so dignified Potions Master made a face resembling a befuddled donkey.

"Yes, he is. He married my sister Mary-Sue. Our brother is the only magical person in the family – he used to play Quidditch in the same team as Neville. That's how Neville got to know Mary-Sue," she replied, highly amused by his expression. "Close your mouth, Sev, you aren't too handsome like that."

"Sev?" he blinked. "The last person to call me Sev was my _mother_."

"And… don't you want the _mother of your child_ to call you Sev?" she cocked her head.

He heaved a huge sigh. "I love you, do you know that?"

"I think you haven't told me enough times," she grinned.

"Then I'll show you," he whispered and was just about to kiss her when Pomfrey entered, followed by McGonagall. He jumped up from Beryl's bed as though he had been stung and turned ruby-red. Minerva had clearly seen what he had been about to do, but the deputy-headmistress only gave him a smile.  

"I see that the patient is feeling much better, Poppy. Maybe your worries were unfounded."

"Then I should be leaving, I suppose," Snape said and headed for the door. At the door he abruptly doubled back. "I understand it at last!"

"What?" Beryl, Minerva and Poppy asked in unison.

"Longbottom's boggart," Severus said, glancing at Miss Bradley. "Now I understand how you knew about it."

Beryl stifled a chuckle as the door of the infirmary slammed shut.

* * * * *

It was Saturday, and a Hogsmeade weekend for all students third year and up. Lily Potter was happy to go home and see Daniel, hoping to be able to talk to him and console him. However, Dan didn't seem to need consoling – for someone expelled he looked pretty chipper and eager to make mischief with the triplets. Harry and Ginny were relieved to see that Daniel hadn't taken the whole expulsion much to his heart.

Harry was also looking forward to the weekend, hoping to have a chance to talk to his daughter, but Lily was very clearly avoiding him.

The only half an hour that father and daughter spent within the same four walls was the short period of time of Pinky's baptism. Pinky was Dobby and Dinky's little daughter, born five days earlier.

Harry had always wondered what a baby elf looked like, but he had to realise that baby elves looked exactly like adult elves, with the exception that they were smaller. Little Pinky's huge bat-like ears were poking out of the pink swaddling cloth that Dinky was holding her in. She was just as ugly as all other elves, but she had some cuteness to her as well. She wasn't crying – this was a huge difference between human and elven babies – elven babies never cried.

Harry still wondered why he had consented to be Pinky's godfather. He had not intended to accept the 'position', since he was sort of mad at the Almighty and was refusing to enter the chapel. Ginny had somehow managed to convince him, saying that it would make Dobby and Dinky very happy and proud to have the Potter parents as their child's godparents. 

So, the Potter family was standing in the chapel of Hogsmeade, listening to vicar Diggle's speech. Daniel was the only Potter left at home on Dumbledore's advice. (Albus had advised Harry not to let Daniel loaf around on the streets or anywhere where the unknown attacker could get to him and use his powers. Daniel had also been made to promise that he'd refrain from imagining anything away from Hogwarts.) 

Certainly Dumbledore, who was in Arizona for the time being, had no idea that there had been another attack on Beryl Bradley, and that Daniel had nothing to do with it this time. Dan had been allowed to watch television or do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't leave the house.

The proud elf-parents had wanted to invite Ron and Hermione to the ceremony, too, but those two couldn't come, because they were visiting Arthur and Molly at Burrow Manor.

As vicar Diggle poured some consecrated water onto Pinky's forehead, Ginny sent Harry a meaningful look that made him turn red. He knew what her glance meant – that they too would be holding a baby soon… that little romp in the arbour naturally had had its consequences, but neither Ginny nor Harry regretted it – there had been a silent mutual consent between them to replace their lost baby as soon as they felt ready for it. 

Obviously they had been having sex since the unfortunate miscarriage, but for months they had been using condoms to make sure that Ginny wouldn't conceive until she felt ready. That night in the arbour, under the watching eyes of several frogs, they hadn't cared about protection.

Harry smiled at his wife who smiled back. Her new pregnancy had been kept a secret from everyone else – they had agreed not to let anyone in on it for a while, so not even their children knew. Harry wasn't a superstitious person, but he couldn't help thinking that if they kept it a secret as long as possible, the child would have a greater chance to be born. 

When Harry thought this over, he had to admit that it sounded very silly even inside his head, but something kept telling him that Ginny's miscarriage hadn't been an accident. Both Ginny and the baby had been healthy according to Madame Pomfrey, so there was absolutely no reason for her to miscarry… she still had.

Harry made a mental note not to ponder such idiotic things or he'd be either going mad or turn a fan of Trelawney's, so he rather directed his thoughts back to the present and back to reality.

Soon the christening ceremony ended and the Potters plus the house-elves headed for theThree Broomsticks for a bit of a party to celebrate little Pinky's arrival to the world.

Exiting the chapel, Harry cast a glance at Lily, who immediately looked away. Well, he'd have a lot of time to talk to her in the afternoon or the evening, wouldn't he?

The Potter children were enjoying it very much to have an opportunity to eat at a 'restaurant' instead of at home for a change. Of course, they liked Ginny's cooking, but Rosmerta's was even more delicious, especially her cakes and Butterbeer. 

Harry felt a bit guilty that they were here, eating all sorts of sweets when Daniel was sitting alone at home with nothing more to eat than popcorn…

"I'll come back soon," he told Ginny. "I just go and take some of this cake to Dan, okay?"

"All right, dear," she nodded.

* * * * *

"Albus! At last!" Professor Snape hurried to greet the headmaster who had just arrived back at the school with Cho Chang. "We have to talk. It's urgent."

"Certainly, Severus. Come into my office, please."

"I'll wait outside, all right, Professor?" said Cho.

"Well…" the headmaster looked at Snape. "What you want to tell me… does it have something to do with the attacks?"

"Yes, Albus. In fact there has been another attack. Minerva and I agreed not to send you an owl – one may never know who might intercept it," the Potions Master replied.

"Wise decision. If you want to discuss the attacks, then I believe that Miss Chang may join us. I have let her in on the details during the past few days that we spent in the States. _Chocolate mousse,_" Dumbledore told the gargoyle and stepped onto the moving spiral staircase.

The headmaster locked the door behind the other two and motioned them to sit down.

"So," he said. "Fill me in, Severus. Who has been attacked?"

"Bradley."

"Indeed?" Albus raised a silver eyebrow, looking appalled. "Why would someone attack a mere Muggle caretaker?"

"Because of me," Snape said quietly. "That person knew that I liked her."

"Her? Excuse me, Professors, but isn't the caretaker a male?" Cho cut in.

"No, Miss Chang. Mr. Bradley is a Miss Bradley. A long story, though. The point is that Severus here has developed some kind of an affection for her, right, Severus?"

"Well, yes," the Potions Master looked away, slightly embarrassed. Cho Chang had been one of his students, after all, and having to admit his love for a woman in front of a previous (or current) student made him feel awkward.

"So, you say that she was attacked because of you?"

"Yes. The attacker wanted to hurt me. He… or she wrote a script on the wall of Beryl's room. It said… _'You seem to be resistant to death, Snape. But she isn't_.' I'm sure that the attack was directed at me. Whoever did it wanted to threaten me. It was some kind of an 'I'll-come-back-to-you-and-attack-you-again-and-this-time-I'll-make-sure-you-die' message, I believe."

"I see," Albus nodded. "And how is Miss Bradley doing?"

"She is feeling okay. Fortunately, Madame Pomfrey managed to cure her, although she had no idea what kind of a curse-disease or what she was fighting against…  Pomfrey said that if I had found Beryl any later, she very possibly wouldn't have been able to save her. I asked Beryl and she said that she hadn't seen her attacker. She knows nothing. She is a mere victim."

"Certainly," Dumbledore nodded, letting Fawkes take place on his lap. He started to stroke the phoenix's feathery wings. "Well, Severus, it's time for me to tell you the reason of my short leave. I have told you about Daniel Potter being an Imaginer, haven't I?" Snape nodded. "The fact is," Albus carried on, "that he found a secret chamber in the cave in Hogsmeade. The chamber was built by Godric Gryffindor and can only be opened by a direct-line descendant of Gryffindor's. The Potters are Godric's heirs, thus Daniel managed to open the door and in the chamber he found a peculiar book on Imaginers. There was one page missing from it – one page that I suspected was dealing with the art of exercising control over an Imaginer. I also believed that Daniel had been controlled at the tournament and at your match."

"My match?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, my friend. He was the one who set the Bludgers on you, but not of his own free will."

Snape's lips turned into one single line, he was pressing them so firm together. Then he spoke up: "I told you that the boy was dangerous."

"Yes, dangerous, but only when he is controlled by someone else. And he has been controlled twice. The person who has been doing this to him must be in possession of the missing page. Since the book on Imaginers had only two copies, I couldn't even hope for finding it and having an opportunity to read the missing page. Then Miss Chang kindly visited me and spotted that book on my desk. She recognised it as one book she had seen and read in a huge Arizonian wizarding library. That is why we have left the country."

"You were in Arizona?"

"Yes. That library was really huge, and Arizona is a very pleasant place, if I might add. I would have gladly visited the Grand Canyon if I hadn't been in a hurry, but perhaps another time. We also had some business in Miss Chang's local restaurant, so we really had no time to go sightseeing. But I digress," Dumbledore sighed. "So, the other copy of the book had been in the possession of the family of the writer – Viviane Vablatsky – for centuries. One of her descendants moved to the States with some other wizard pilgrims and settled down in today's Arizona. That is how the book happened to be there. We read the missing page and my suspicion was proven right. There was the description of a very complex charm that allows someone to take over the control of an Imaginer. There was also another charm to take the control away from the person usurping the Imaginer's powers and give the control back to the Imaginer. It is a difficult spell and needs three magical people to perform it with joined powers. Since Miss Chang and I already know about it, I think we only need a third volunteer to join our ranks. Care to try, Severus?"

Snape nodded. "Of course, Albus. If I can protect Beryl and our baby with its help, I'm glad to be of service."

"Spiffing," Dumbledore clasped his hand, seeing that Cho's mouth was hanging open after the 'our baby' term. "Then we might start with the exercises, ladies and gentlemen."  

* * * * *

Heading towards the Potter house, Harry waved at Mrs. Figg who was sitting on the porch of her pension, fondling a bunch of kitties as usual. She waved back and wished Harry a good day. Harry, however, - inexplicably to him – had a feeling that today would not be a good day. He had no idea what made him think that, given that the weather was wonderful, he was spending the weekend with his family and nothing bad had happened for a while.

Still, he had this stupid feeling…

Resolute to forget all about idiotic premonitions, Harry entered the house.

"Daniel! I'm home!" he shouted, waiting for a pair of feet storming downstairs. But there was no sound at all. "Daniel, I have brought you a slice of cake from theThree Broomsticks!"

Still no one answered.

With a growing sense of premonition, he walked into the living room, placing the cake on the table. "Daniel?"

He looked around, his heart clenched with worry. His son couldn't have just run away, could he? Daniel had an attitude of breaking rules, but he wasn't the type to run away from home without telling his parents… Harry's eyes kept skimming the living room, and he was just about to go upstairs and look into the boy's room when he spotted a white parchment on the mantelpiece.

A letter from Daniel for sure!

He dashed to the fireplace and grabbed the letter with trembling hands.

However, it hadn't been written by young Potter – Harry knew his son's untidy scrawl, but this one was tidy. Tidy, and…

IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR SON ALIVE, GO TO GRYFFINDOR'S CHAMBER

The parchment fell out of his hand as he Apparated out of the house.

* * * * *

"Honestly, I don't understand you, Gabie," Draco pouted. They were sitting on the terrace of Gabrielle's house.

"Zen you must be a bit slow on ze uptake, Drhaco," she replied coolly. "I married you to 'elp your family when you thought your life waz in danger. Now your life doesn't seem to be in dangher, so you do not need zis marriage. Neither do I. When ze one year is up, we will forget zat we 'ave ever said 'I do's to each uzzer."

"Is this only because of what I told my brother at the tournament?" he fumed.

"Yes, it is. It showed me what sort o' person you are, Drhaco Malfoy. Before zat I 'ad thought you were just a bit cynic and sour, but ze way you treated poor Norhbert showed me your true colours. You are an insensitive git, not a bit like a family man. I 'ad thought… 'oped zat you'd turn out to be a good father material, but… I was wrong."

"Father material?" he raised an eyebrow. "So you were actually giving thoughts to having my children?"

"Yes, I admit zat I was," she crossed her arms, scowling at him. "But not anymohre. Ze way you shouted at zat poor leetle boy opened my eyes. A decent man would nevehr 'ave treated his leetle bruzzer like zat."

"Who said that I was a decent man, huh?" he gave her an amused stare. "I have never been decent."

"True. You're a scoundrel," she turned away.

"I think you like me because I'm a scoundrel," he said, slipping closer to her. "I think you haven't had enough scoundrels in your life."

"I 'appen to like nice men," she whispered.

"And I'm not nice?" he reached out to cup her chin and make her face him.

"No, you are not," she hissed and jumped up.

"Listen, if this is all about my pathetic little brother, then I promise you to be nicer to him, all right?"

"Phromises!" she huffed. "It's too late, Drhaco. You've shown me zat you 'ave a 'eart o' ice… not loving your own sibling!"

Draco opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it, as though he had changed his mind. "I'll come back when you are in a bit clearer state of mind. Au-revoir."

* * * * *

Harry Apparated into the outer cave where he, Ron and Hermione had visited Sirius and Buckbeak in his fourth year. He dashed to the hidden entrance to the second cave, then to the well. The ladder that he had conjured back in February was still there. He cursed himself for not having removed it right after Dan's first visit to the well…

He simply couldn't imagine who had kidnapped his son and why… was it the same person who had been controlling Daniel? The same person who had wanted to kill Snape? He couldn't even think it over, his mind was too much filled with questions and worries – worries that he'd only find his son's dead body… it strongly reminded him of the feeling he had had when entering the Chamber of Secrets, fearing that Ginny would be dead by the time he got there… But this was even stronger than that. He hadn't had feelings for Ginny back in his second year, but his son… was his son. 

Daniel. 

Whether he wanted it or not, Harry had to admit that Daniel was the one of all his six children whom he felt the closest to. He loved all the five others as well, but somehow Dan had always been the apple of daddy's eye…

And now he might lose him…

When nearing the end of the ladder he jumped down, skipping the last four or five rungs. He whispered _Lumos_ and started running in the dark tunnel. He wasn't even looking where he stepped, so he tripped over a stalagmite. He landed in a small puddle that had been formed by the constantly dripping ceiling. He hopped up again, not caring for his wet robes, not caring for the pain tearing at his knees that he had hit so badly… he ran forward, hoping to spot the door… and then he did.

The door was giving off some faint whitish glow, as if beckoning him to go and enter. What had Dumbledore said? Only Gryffindor's heir could open it. But how… Albus hadn't told him that… before he could ponder this, the door swung open and some invisible force sucked him in. For seconds he felt spinning, nauseous, then suddenly he was rudely pushed to the wall by this force and felt something clench around his wrists and ankles.

He opened his eyes and saw the lights of the chamber dancing in front of him, their swaying images making him have the feeling that he was drunk – but he was just dizzy, barely able to lift his head that felt rather like lolling on his neck. With enormous effort he straightened himself and blinked several times to see clearer. The giddiness was ceasing and he could see more and more clearly. There were several torches with golden light around the walls, shelves with books and one marble table.

Harry was searching for the source of that mysterious force that had slammed him to the wall. He squinted upwards to see that his hands were in shackles. So were his legs. He had obviously lost his wand somewhere or that force had ripped it out of his fist – he didn't know. He craned his neck sideways and gasped at the sight that greeted him: his son, cowering in a corner, shaking.      

"Daniel!" he shouted, and the boy looked up. His face looked tired and his eyes were radiating guilt. There was a haunted air to him that Harry couldn't comprehend at once… then it struck him – the reason of Daniel's tiredness and guilt. HE had been the force that played with Harry's body like a puppeteer would play with a puppet. Daniel's Imaginer powers had done this to him… but clearly unwillingly. The silent _'forgive me, dad'_ message that Harry saw in Daniel's eyes proved his suspicion right: the kidnapper, whoever it was, had been controlling his son. Again.

Suddenly he heard someone clapping. "Idyllic. Absolutely idyllic," a harsh voice said. Harry had heard that voice before, but this time it sounded slightly different… his eyes narrowed, trying to make out the figure standing in the shadow of a bookshelf. "Father and son reunited. Welcome, welcome to our circle, Harry Potter."

The figure moved forward, into the golden light of the torches.

"Norbert," Harry whispered. "What… what the hell are you doing?"

"Just arranging a little family reunion for the Potters," young Devilsmoor-Malfoy replied.

"But… what is this whole thing? Why have you kidnapped my son? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, Professor… I have never felt this sane before."

* * * * *

"I want one more slice!" little Lea whined, sitting at a round table at Madame Rosmerta's. 

"No, dear. You have eaten enough of that cake," her mother replied. "You don't want to get a stomach-ache, do you?"

"Just one moooooore…" she pleaded.

"Mum… are you all right?" Richard cut in, but Ginny didn't reply. She seemed to have stiffened and her eyes were fixed on her ring.

"Mum?" Lily reached out for her, but before her finger could make contact with Ginny's shoulder, Ginny disappeared. Lily's hand grasped the thin air.

* * * * *

Ginny found herself in some underground room. Before she could analyse her situation, some invisible force lifted her and slammed her to the wall. She felt the coldness of metal encircling her wrists and ankles and she turned slowly to the right, to see her husband in the same condition.

"Gin?" he breathed. "Why have you come here?"

"The gem. It flickered," she said in a hoarse voice. Harry had bought two gems in Russia twelve years earlier – the gems were set into their wedding rings to function as an alarm. If any of the two was in lethal danger, the gem in the other's ring started flickering, enabling him/her to teleport himself/herself to the other and help.

"But Gin… teleporting is like Apparating… why have you risked the baby?" he whispered very, very quietly. Not quietly enough, though.

"Baby?" a shrill laughter could be heard. "She's pregnant again? This is perfect! More than perfect! The little family-reunion couldn't be more complete: father, mother, son and unborn child… how utterly sweet."

Ginny gulped, turning towards the source of the voice. "N…Norbert?" she gasped. "What is going on here, Harry?"

"He has kidnapped our son, Gin," Professor Potter replied. "He is the one who has been controlling Dan. I just don't know why…" he turned to the boy. "Tell us, Norbert, why are you doing this? You have been such a nice boy, we didn't think…"

"Oh, yes, you didn't think did you?" the boy sneered. "I was a nice little boy… oh, Harry, Harry, Harry, you have no idea how much I hated playing the nice little boy… but I had to."

"Why?" Ginny cut in, trying to pull her hands out of the handcuffs – to no avail. "We've treated you so well… Why have you turned a traitor?"

"Traitor?" young Malfoy gave them an amused glance. "I have never been a traitor. If someone can be called a traitor, then it's Snape."

"Snape?" Ginny breathed. "Is that why you tried to kill him?"

The boy nodded.

"But what reason would a young boy like yourself have to attempt to kill his teacher?" Harry frowned.

"He once told me…" Daniel's shaking voice interjected. His whole body was trembling, as though he had been afraid that Norbert would just curse him for daring to speak or would make him do another terrible thing to his parents. But Norbert didn't seem to want to do anything just now – on the contrary: he seemed to be willing to let his 'friend' speak. "He told me that his father had considered Snape a traitor… He said that his father's behaviour had rubbed off on him… but I no more believe him," Daniel sent his parents a painful look. "I had no idea that it was him… I'm sorry, mum, sorry, dad."

"Not your fault," Harry replied sternly. "Malfoys have always been snakes in the grass, right, boy?"

"I prefer not being called Malfoy. I have always liked Devilsmoor more," Norbert replied, his eyes gleaming with a strange light. 

Before Harry could ask 'why', his forehead exploded with pain. No, it wasn't his whole forehead this time… it was a particular pain that he hadn't felt for thirteen years… it was his _scar_. Wheezing, he opened his eyes that he had shut for seconds, and through the veil of tears he saw the boy wave his wand, writing letters into the air.

It had happened the same way in Harry's returning nightmare… someone conjuring letters, then making them rearrange themselves… but after waking up from his nightmares Harry never remembered who had been doing it, and what words they had written…

Now the nightmare came true.

"I have never really liked being called a Malfoy… that's why I used to tell everyone to call me Devilsmoor," Norbert repeated, watching Harry's torment with delight. "Do you want to know why?"

Harry gulped, seeing very clearly the two words hovering in midair:

NORBERT DEVILSMOOR

He could just as clearly see the words after the boy rearranged the letters with a swish of his wand:

VOLDEMORT IS REBORN

**A/N2**: once someone asked whether the enemy was a canon character or someone made up by me. And I replied: both. Then some of you suspected poor Aberforth, saying that he was mentioned in canon, but he only became a real character in my stories. Now you know that it wasn't Aberforth, but I was still telling the truth: Voldemort is a canon character, Norbert is my creation. And they are the same person. Only a couple of you have ever suspected Norbert to be the enemy, and only one of you has insisted on him being the evil one: my excellent partner at Cho-hating: Bucky. Congrats, you're clever!

Note to everyone who has ever said how much they loved cute little Norbiekins: **do you STILL love him?** And to those who loved the idea of Norbert/Lily: **do you still want to see them together?** *insert evil grin and crazy cackle*

If you don't trust me with the letters, then write down 'Norbert Devilsmoor' and 'Voldemort is reborn' and start crossing off the letters, one by one. You'll see that there's not one missing and not one superfluous. Everything fits. I made this up more than a year ago when I was around the middle of the second fic, so I could already mention the name Devilsmoor in that one, making the name look totally 'innocent', and not at all suspicious. I bet none of you thought of evil Agi hiding a secret message in a character's name, did you? ;) According to a British friend there's no name like 'Marvolo', Rowling just made it up to fit 'I AM LORD VOLDEMORT'. I wanted to find a name that sounded more natural than Tom _Marvolo_ Riddle and found Norbert Devilsmoor. Why do you think I made Norbert keep emphasising, that he liked being called Devilsmoor and not Malfoy? ;)

Now you must wonder how this reincarnation could be possible with that 'rule of the netherworld' – be patient, you'll find out from the next two chapters. I'll try to get them out as soon as I did with this one… but I can't promise anything.

_C-chan_: yes, the Dementors kissing each other is really a bad mental image :) Yes, Johnny English is the movie played by Rowan Atkinson, who also played Mr Bean. I also get OotP on the 21st, at 10 a.m. I have a book reserved in a bookshop that pre-orders lots of copies! Your friend's art is really cute.

_L-chan_: why? What sort of mean things have you said?

_LilGinny:_ I hope you also had a happy Easter :)

_seashell:_ yes, I love writing Gred and Forge instead of Fred and George ;)

_Houou:_ well, now you know that it's not Fudge and not a Death Eater. And you've got to admit that Voldie really does have a reason to want to do away with Sev. Karkaroff? Nooo, I believe that Voldie had killed off that idiot around book five or six.

_ruffled owl:_ now you got to know one of the secrets.

_baybee_: Lily controlling Dan? Noooo! Of course not.

_Lady Schezar_: now you know it's not Lily. And this 'comedy-writer' is a certain-point-of-view-thing. I can write comedy if I want, I can write drama if I want. The only thing I can't write (or haven't tried yet) is horror. Brrrr, I hate horror.

_Tap Dancing Widow_: see, nothing bad happened to Albus! And don't feel too sorry for Draco :)

_Katrina_: yeah, you were right about Ginny conceiving :D About Cho and Liu… it's possible. You wrote: _"…if Norbert and Gilda aren't evil_…" Hm… who said that Norbert WASN'T evil??? *grin*

_Angela:_ now you don't need me slipping you any hint, you know who the bad guy is.

_TaMaraR:_ in the next chapter you'll find out what is happening to Lily.

_Wizzabee_: I might give Draco a role in things, just wait it out. Gabrielle is only in the story to provide variety.

_maureen:_ see, Ginny's pregnant again :) Glad you liked Remus falling into the tub and Harry feeling bad about the frogs watching them! The timing of the attacks on Snape have nothing to do with him realising his love for Beryl.

_Altec_: it's not Pierre, but Philippe, and no, he has NOTHING to do with any of the attacks.

_Kristen Michelle_: no, I'm definitely no professional writer, but I hope to be one some day. You said you didn't believe I could outdo myself. What do you think now?

_Indigo Ziona_: well, Beryl's safe now :) And you're totally right about Lily, clever girl!

_Beauty in Disguise_: Saddam Hussein? LOL :)

_Inigma:_ I'm not a fan of Herm/Snape fics, though I've read some myself. Yes, I love making the characters' lives terrible! ;) Actually Liu isn't hopelessly in love with Dan, though she likes him a lot.

_Alexander Phoenix_: well, Lily isn't doing anything… in the next chapter you'll find out what is happening to her. Or, if you're clever, you can guess it already.

_kitch:_ I wouldn't mind if someone told me who dies in book five, then I'd be prepared for the shock and probably wouldn't cry that much *Agi imagines herself reading OotP on the tram and starting to cry when Hagrid (or someone else) dies, and everyone is looking at her, thinking she'd gone mad*. No, as you've seen, it's not Lily behind it all.

_heavenly182angel:_ neither Angel nor the frogs were animagi. Voldemort WAS dead, but was reborn. Tatyana fits into the picture in another way. I had to give the 'link' to the other copy of the Imaginer book, it was necessary for plot reasons.

_GdCharlotte:_ I was really quick this time, wasn't I? :)

_CloverWeave_: Gilderoy, Lily and Angel have also been accused by other readers. But they are all innocent.

_jennaration_: of course I couldn't kill off poor Beryl! Snape has to have that child! :D

_psychic_: no, though you made up rather interesting things :)

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: no, Tatyana ISN'T a red herring. I also like Gilda as a tomboy :) About Liu… possible.

_figgiesblazin_: yes, unfortunately ffnet tends to write this 'site overload' thingie, quite annoying! You are the umpteenth reader who thinks that Angel or the frogs were animagi. No, they weren't. You wrote: "_Only yesterday did i realize that everything collaborates w/ JKR's words. Aberforth and the goat, the green flame torch. I tried looking trough the character list for people behind this, no luck_." Er… what character list?

_weirdo_without_a_clue:_ would you rather have poor Beryl die? You evil one!

_PhoenixFire:_ you know, I didn't even think of unicorn blood when I wrote the message on the wall…

_Colibi:_ yes, both Tom Parris and John Williams were deliberate, I love both of them!

_Katie Bell:_ no need to be mad at me… at least not because of Beryl, she's okay now. But now you can be mad at me because of Norbert ;)

_VegaKeep_: congrats on not having been caught yet when breaking rules! :) I agree, Fudge is a moron, but unfortunately in many cases morons are chosen as the Prime Minister or President of states… it is just the same in the wizarding world.

_K. C. Hunter:_ don't worry, I intend to continue writing HP fics after this trilogy. I think I'll just have to read OotP to get new ideas for fics :)

_Bucky:_ the Snape 'twins' won't be born in the fic, since the fic ends in July. But feel free to name them ;) No acromantulas anymore? Food poisoning? LOL. Drop her off a cliff? Might consider it. Chapter 29 will be YOUR chapter, I promise.

_Lady Marie_: I might use that chance ;)

_Romina_: you wrote: _"the day i read the last word of this whole story will be a very sad day for mankind." _You know… I found this touching :) What? It took you four hours to read GoF? Wow, I needed five days, although I spent at least 5 hours a day with reading it! I envy people who can read quickly, I can't. Draco was expelled from Hogwarts in TGSiHH for having conspired with Dudley to get rid of Harry (he had given Dudley the Teih-Nessegrev Potion that wiped Harry's memories). Well, OotP will come out in Hungary only half a year after in GB and USA, but only because the translation will take months. But of course I'm going to get it in English on the 21st June, at 10 a.m.! (that's when the bookshop that pre-orders it opens, I have reserved a copy for myself). The population of Hungary is 10 million people. Yes, I've started reading Devil's Dilemma, too, and imagine, the author, webba, asked me to do an art for her chapter 9 or 10 (so I got a sneak preview of a later chapter)!

_Inken:_ bingo about Cho, but your theory about Lily is incorrect. She hasn't been under Imperio and she has never been to Gryffindor's chamber yet.

_The Millenium One_: I'm glad you think this is the best mystery fic on ffnet, it's rather flattering! Thanks :D

_Black Ice_: you seem to be the only one who likes Lily's behaviour, all the others think she's an insufferable little brat.

_Shazzman:_ don't worry, Harry and Lily will reconcile soon. Glad you like my Draco, I have always thought he couldn't be so really evil… Oh, and thanks for reviewing on Riddikulus!

_Myr Halcyon_: I find it so funny that so many people accuse poor Angel, when she's only there for some 'cuteness'. Hm… sorry, I have no idea what a chu-style beard looks like… of course I wouldn't kill Beryl's baby, too. Killing Ginny's baby was enough!

_Kit Cloudkicker_: and it will only get even more complex :)

_Philip_: no, it's not Cho, though I also hate her (come and join the Cho-Hater-Club, founded by Bucky and me;).

_Punky Poet_: I think I have answered most of your questions in this chapter, haven't I? :)

_Tyleet:_ as far as I remember, your website DID have colours (yellow and red) when I visited it. 

_Sarah:_ "Hello, Sarah, my name is cliffie. I believe I have been used nicely this time. What do you think?"

_JustChrys_: nope, I wouldn't make Philippe be the enemy when he hasn't had a role in the whole fic at all!

_Princess Ginny_: I believe I've given you some answers in this chapter :)

_maggie:_ I'm not afraid of the chicken pox, I had it when I was ten years old, and I've heard that you can't get it twice :)

_apple-pie_: of course I wouldn't kill poor Beryl! Glad you liked the H/G part with the frogs! :D

_Toby Haine:_ nope, neither the frogs nor Angel are animagi. The Malfoy bank was just there to confuse you with the fire. Yeah, Voldemort would have been obvious, but NOT as being NORBERT, right? This way it wasn't that obvious, was it? Haha, you're not the first one to say that I'm the Greatest Enemy, LOL. I'm interested your H/G fic, and your theory why they will be together. My theory is: because Harry had saved Ginny's life, and that created a special link between them. I might be wrong, of course. I have seen the old version of Les Miserables with Jean Gaben, but there's one with Jean Paul Belmondo as well. I haven't seen it in the theatre yet, and I haven't read the novel, either. I don't know the song you mentioned, sorry. 

_ArgiCallista_: Draco DIDN'T see Harry and Ginny 'snogging'. (in fact they were doing more than just snogging, but they were properly hidden by the bush. All Draco saw was that the bush was shaking). Yep, you were right about Voldie controlling Dan, but I bet you didn't think of Norbert, did you?

_Eclectus_: yes, there will be some chapters in the future that won't have cliffies. I also think that Dan and Gilda are acting a bit over their ages concerning their relationship, but in other respect Dan used to be extremely childish, so I think that compensates for it. Yes, I hate Cho, but I'll give her a chance to be good in this fic. No, I'm not going to post the Greatest Trilogy to schnoogle, because it would take about a year for the whole series to be posted there (the FA site-managers put fics up very slowly), and after 21st June there wouldn't be a point in posting a fic that had been written before OotP, since I believe that so many things will happen in OotP that my stories will no more have a sense in the light of the new things. But in case I'll write another long fic after reading OotP, I'll definitely post it to schnoogle.

_Lioness-07863:_ there are 31 chapters in this fic. Yes, I meant the Big Bang for revealing the culprit. And I have revealed it, haven't I?

_Nefertiri:_ Beryl is about 5 months pregnant. Had she been only 3 months old, then she wouldn't be showing yet, and Snape hadn't seen her slightly bulging belly. I know that my readers hate the cliffies, but I love them. Do you still want Lily to get back together with Norbert? I doubt it… I hope your ankle isn't hurting anymore.

_sabby:_ no, poor Dan… how could he have been the enemy? He's sooo innocent!

_goldenstar555_: yes, you'll have to wait and you'll see :)

_2Coolio_: not every chapter can be really evil, can they?

_Elfangor19_: congratulations on having such a vivid imagination – but see, you were quite wrong. You were right that it was Voldie behind it all, but definitely not the way you thought.

_SiriDragon_: glad you liked the Dan/Gilda moment :)

_Zenon Lee_: you weren't that far from the truth.

_Kamatazi Yumi:_ there's nothing with the 'pervert' frogs :) Why did Aberforth change Amelia back? Because he got quite a shock when Albus told him that he wanted to marry Amelia. Even if Aberforth is a clown, he isn't mean/stupid enough to let his own brother marry a goat!

_spaloosa_: thank you, glad you like my style, and I'm always so happy when people tell me that my English is good :) Of course, if you find some mistakes, please, do point them out to me!

_MauiGoddess3_: no, why is everyone accusing poor Angel?

_Laura_: I agree, Draco deserves to be happy :D

_Rab:_ thanks a lot :)

_Mage_: no way. I promised my readers that NO UNDERAGE PEOPLE WILL HAVE SEX in this story, so I wouldn't make poor Lily pregnant. 


	28. Spectre of the past

**A/N**: first of all, I'd like to thank you all for those lots of, lots of reviews – it seems I annoyed you into reviewing, didn't I? ;) I must tell I enjoyed reading your cursing reviews a lot, they were highly entertaining… especially your weird theories about Tatyana's involvement.

I think I need to get this straight, since some of you didn't understand: Voldie didn't possess a nice Norbert's body, he had possessed the body of a newborn child and that child grew up being Voldemort. So, Norbert has been Voldemort from the second he was born. Sorry, no exorcism possible, since the boy has only one spirit: that of Voldemort.

The three Star Wars references in chapter 27 were the following:

1.

_"You really care for him, don't you? Well, listen, I understand. I won't stand in your way."_

_"No, it's not like that at all – Neville is my brother-in-law"._

(This one originates from Return of the Jedi – Han/Leia scene)

2.

_"I told you that the boy was dangerous."_

(This one resembles the line told by Obi-Van to Qui-Gon on Coruscant, in The Phantom Menace, but I think this wasn't as obvious as the other two)

3.

_"I think you like me because I'm a scoundrel."_

_"I 'appen to like nice men."_

(This one originates from The Empire Strikes Back, Han/Leia scene)

And to add a bit more to the already Star Wars-ish atmosphere, the title of this chapter originates from Timothy Zahn's Specter of the past, a really cool Star Wars book.

This chapter is dedicated to _Toby Haine_ for being such a great friend, and to _Inigma_ for her undying enthusiasm.

**Chapter 28**

**Spectre of the past **

Harry, Ginny and Daniel gasped. 

"That can't be!" Harry shouted. "You can't… can't be _Voldemort_!"

"Oh, trust me I am. Even my dear pet raven Ivo's name means yew. You have bad memories in connection with yew, don't you?" Norbert replied with a triumphant grin, holding up his head as though he owned the universe. He no more resembled the helpful, sympathetic little boy he used to be. His stance was proud, and suddenly so unmistakably voldemortish… a shiver ran down Harry's spine, terrible memories of all of his previous encounters with the Dark Lord resurfacing… 

"I'm reborn," the boy said in a low voice. "You could cause my death, Potter, but I've returned. And now I'm going to kill you and your dear wife who has been just as guilty of my death as you've been. Or even more," he glanced at Ginny, who was trembling. "You are going to pay for everything, both of you."

Harry tried to reach out for Ginny's hand, but his shackle only let him touch his fingertips to hers. The rings on their fingers were glowing in a mad way. Harry gulped. "You knew. You knew about the rings, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Norbert shrugged. "Daniel once mentioned them to me… but I had seen them before he told me… oh, you have no idea, Harry, what I have been going through in hell… a bloody hot place, that is. I spent my days in fire and brimstone, watching you from there and cursing you a million times a day… oh, yes, Potter. The dead can see you from the netherworld… they can see all your actions. I saw you buying those gems and I saw doing _everything,_" he uttered the last word with some blissful malice, his grey eyes widening with pleasure at seeing Harry's facial reactions. "And then I found a way to come back and decided to pay back everything to you!" 

"How…?" Harry's eyes narrowed. "You have killed hundreds of innocent people… you weren't allowed to be reborn!"

"I'll tell you that in due time, Potter," the boy waved nonchalantly. "You will get to know everything before you die. You might call me cruel, but even I believe that you deserve to know the truth before you die. So let me tell you how I have developed my elaborate little plan until today."

"As if I were interested, Voldemort!" Harry spat.

"Oh, _you will b_e interested, I can assure you of that," Norbert replied with a smirk. "It's a highly enjoyable and gripping tale… a tale of naivety versus cunning… So, let's start the story with 1st September, when I started it all by sending Lucius to Dumbledore. On his way to the castle, Lucius was to curse the boats so they'd sink when Aberforth was guiding the first-years across the lake. Then he fed Albus some idiotic story about being worried about his innocent little son - me. Meanwhile, the boats started to sink. Albus had to hurry and save the students, and Lucius was left alone in Dumbledore's office. Alone, with the Sorting Hat. He put an undetectable charm on it to make it send your son into Slytherin."

"_What?"_ Daniel gasped. "You don't mean that I got into that house because… because of your damn father's damn magic?"

"Oh, that's exactly what I mean, Dan," Norbert answered. "You very likely would have got into Gryffindor with your pathetic little cousins if Lucius hadn't helped you a bit… but I needed you in Slytherin. I needed you to be close to me so that I could get close to the Potter family. I had quite an easy job with you – you had no firm will, Dannie. You were insecure, so I could direct you the way I wanted. I wanted you to get hostile with your previous friends, so I used the opportunity of the unicorn-adventure."

Dan frowned. "So… that's why you wanted us to tell Snape, because you _knew_ that he'd take a lot of points away from Gryffindor! You were the one telling Snape about my cousins and telling them that I only wanted to help, and when they didn't listen to you, you deliberately turned me against them! You were telling me not to forgive them because they had been so nasty to me… and I thought that you were doing it out of pure good will!" he was practically shouting. "I thought that you were a true friend!"

"Oh, I did look like a true friend, didn't I?" Norbert laughed. "Yes, I was playing the excellent friend, and trust me, I was feeling sick of myself consoling you all along, listening to all your silly little problems, all your whining over your clumsiness… I had enough of you. After I made your mother miscarry and set fire to your house, I decided to…"

"WHAT???" Harry and Ginny bellowed, not letting him finish his sentence.

"Oh, you didn't suspect, did you?" Norbert stepped to the woman and looked directly into her eyes. "You know, dear, Professor Snape gave me a wonderful idea at our very first Potions class… he talked about a potion that witches had used to get rid of their unwanted pregnancies. When Dan told me that you were pregnant with your seventh child, I decided to kill it to make you suffer," he said this in such an insensitive tone that it made Ginny shiver. She couldn't believe that this… this monster had caused the death of her baby.

"So, you poisoned me?" she whispered.

"Yes, yes I did," Norbert nodded mirthfully. "You know, you Potters are simply way too trusting – letting me spend the Christmas holidays at your place where I had access to your food and drinks… and you, Virginia, made an even greater mistake when asking me to kindly take the drinks into the living room on Christmas Eve. Oh, yes, I see in your eyes that you remember now. _Norbert, would you please bring the drinks? Pour a bit of pumpkin juice into the kids' glasses and some champagne into the adults', will you_? And I thought: 'of course I will, Mrs. Potter'," he grinned, leaning closer.

"You bastard!" she spat at his face.

"Hm. I understand that you're upset," he wiped his face with a nonchalant swish of his hand. "I would also be upset if I were in your place."

"What about my house?" Harry demanded, his eyes sparkling with fury, his hands clenched into fists above the shackles.

"I set fire to it, haven't I said so already?" Norbert replied, a nasty sneer playing around his lips. "Well, in fact I didn't do it personally. I used an innocent tool to do it for me instead. Vicar Diggle."

"The vicar?" Harry breathed. 

"Yes. Remember him? He was there at the New Year's Eve party in theThree Broomsticks. He was drunk. Once he went outside to puke, I followed him and cast _Imperius _on him. He did the dirty work instead of me and didn't remember a thing afterwards. Certainly I made him use an old goblin weapon to make it appear as though Draco's house had been the target. Witty, eh? But in fact, the main target wasn't even your house, Potter. It was your cute little daughter sleeping in there… but, alas, she was saved," a miffed expression appeared on Norbert's face. "To my great disappointment only that dratted owl died in the fire!"

Harry exploded with rage and would have thrown himself at Voldemort if he hadn't been shackled. "That dratted owl was my friend!" he howled. 

"Oh, yes, I thought so. Seeing you go all weepy and bury it as though you were burying some royalty, I thought that it must have meant a lot to you, so I wasn't as disappointed anymore. Anyway… where was I before you interrupted?" he mused. "Oh, yes. _Daniel.._." he turned to the other boy. "I was fed up with your whining, Dan, so, after making your parents miserable enough with the miscarriage and the burnt house, I decided to dispose of you."

Daniel felt as though he had been stabbed in the heart. "You… you wanted to… kill me?"

"Bingo, Potty. I did. That's why I convinced you to go to the wishing-well."

Daniel gasped. "You… _you_ made me fall into it?"

"Of course I did. You were pretty much bending over that well, I just had to help you slip a bit… a mere flick with my wand and you were speeding into the bowels of Earth. I wanted your parents to suffer more, losing you, too."

Now something _did_ explode in Harry and he jerked forward, trying to break his shackles, but all he managed to do was crush his wrists so badly that they started to bleed. If there was no other way, then he'd… with a pop he turned into his animagus form. The reindeer's legs were considerably thinner than his human legs and wrists, so he managed to pull out of the handcuffs. However, before he could charge at this demonic creature, he was forced back into his human form and tossed back at the walls and into the shackles even more roughly than for the first time.   

"Sorry, dad…" Dan groaned. "I can't do anything against his will… I must do what he imagines!"

"I know, son," Harry swallowed hard. 

Norbert was grinning. "Perhaps you should have chosen to turn into a rat or something smaller, then you might have stood a chance to ran away… but no, not really. No one can escape from our wonderful Imaginer," he gave Daniel an amused look. "Indeed I wanted to get rid of you, Dan. You were whiny and weak… you forgave your cousins at Christmas!" he said this with utter disdain. "Forgiveness is the sign of weakness, Daniel. I didn't need a weakling for a friend. I wanted to kill you, but later I was happy that I hadn't succeeded. After your miraculous survival in the well, I overheard a discussion between you and your mother. You told her something like you had cushioned your fall. Then I _knew_ what I had been only suspecting before: you were an Imaginer. I thought that I could use an Imaginer – and I was right, wasn't I?"

"So you knew," Harry said. "And _you_ ripped that page out of that book."

"Yes, I admit it was also me," Norbert nodded. "I wanted Dan's powers to use them on Snape, then on you. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you and your wife died at your own son's hands?" he added with a shrill laugh. "I'm _dying _to see it."

"You were the one trying to kill Snape all along?" Ginny hissed.

"Of course it was I. Snape had betrayed me by giving me a false recipe and contributing to my downfall at Stonehenge. He deserves to die, and you can be sure that he will die. After you."

"Then… you did that trick with the spiders?" Dan gulped. Those five huge beasts still vividly lived in his memories.

"Exactly. I made a little trip into the dark forest and put a basilisk-illusion on a gnarly trunk. But before that, I cast _Imperius_ on Gilda to push that little message into Snape's hand."

"It was you again?" Dan shouted. "You were using Gilda?!?"

"Oh, calm down and hold back your raging hormones, Dan," Norbert waved. "I know you have a crush on her, but it's no reason for such an outburst. Honestly. I did nothing bad to that girl. I just made her forward a message and poison Harry and Lupin a bit."

"So you did that, too," Harry gritted his teeth. "Why?"

"Why, why, oh come on, Potter, don't be that slow on the uptake! I wanted to crush you mentally! I wanted to make you suffer as much as possible before doing away with you… psychological warfare, you know. I wanted to kill some of your family members and thought that ridding you of a close friend would also hurt you a lot. It did… didn't it?" 

Harry's face turned red with fury, and his eyes became slits.

"If glances could kill, I'd be long dead!" Voldemort cackled, his laughter reverberating through the chamber.

* * * * *

The Potter children and the house-elves were confused. Ginny had Disapparated from theThree Broomsticks without telling them anything. They hurried home, hoping to find their father and Daniel there, but there was also no one to be found. The whole house was empty and there was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the slice of cake that Harry had brought for Daniel lying on the living room table, untouched. 

"I don't like this," Lily said, frowning. 

"Lil, Lil, look at this!" little Lea came running towards her sister, flourishing some parchment in her tiny hand.

"What's this?" the eldest Potter child took it and started to read. 

"What does it say?" Robert asked, seeing that Lily's complexion had gone ashen.

"Dan's been kidnapped," the girl whispered. "He's in Gryffindor's chamber."

"_Where?"_ Rose blinked.

"I don't know," Lily shook her head. "Never heard of a Gryffindor's chamber before."

"Shouldn't we… ask someone?" Richard cut in.

"Ask Albus Dumbledore, young sirs and ladies!" Dobby suggested. "He will know, Dobby is sure that he will! Albus Dumbledore knows everything!"

"But he isn't at Hogwarts, he left!"

"Then ask Professor McGonagall!" Dobby said.

"All right," Lily nodded. "Come on, everyone. We are going up to Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts!" Lea squealed with delight. She had long wanted to enter the castle but up till now she had only had an opportunity to see the Quidditch pitch. She was over-excited to have a chance to get a glimpse of the inners of the castle, too – had she been a bit older she would have realised that she was supposed to be worried about her brother and parents. But at five, most children can't make a difference between 'dangerous' and 'exciting'.

Lily took her little sister by the hand and told the house-elves to stay at home in case one of their parents returned, then hurried outside with her siblings.

At their gate they ran into Draco Malfoy, who gave them a suspicious stare. "What are you all up to?"

"We are going to Hogwarts!" Lea yelped enthusiastically. 

"And may I ask why?" the banker crossed his arms.

"None of your business," Lily snapped. She was beside herself with worry, and this stupid blond bloke was questioning them, delaying them.

"Oh, you know, girl, you are so much like your father," Malfoy said with a disapproving glare.

"Like my father?" Lily hissed. "I'm not like him at all!" she sounded as though she had been deeply hurt by the comparison. "And I don't care for him at all!"

"Lil," Rose interjected, "you might not be caring for dad, but I think he's in lethal danger, so we'd better be going if we want to save him and Daniel."

"Lethal danger?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "What are you going on about?"

Lily sighed, realising that the only way to get free from their annoying neighbour was to show him the letter.

"Hm… sounds like some threat, really," the banker nodded after having read it, then his eyes widened and he read it again. _He recognised the hand_. "I'm coming with you, children," he said suddenly.

"If you want to," Lily shrugged and motioned her siblings to get moving.

* * * * *

Albus had finished teaching Severus the charm with which an Imaginer could be freed from another person's control, and he, Cho and Snape left his office, heading downstairs. Aberforth and McGonagall joined them on the corridor. Cho was about to pay the Ravenclaws a visit and say hello to Liu when a haggard-looking figure staggered through the oak door, into the Entrance Hall.

Albus dashed to the newcomer and caught her before she could fall.

"Narcissa Malfoy!" he breathed.

"What is she doing here? Isn't she abroad with her husband?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Well, she doesn't seem to be in any condition to tell us," Albus replied, holding the woman who was just about to collapse with exhaustion. Her clothes were in rags and her face and hands were dirty.

"I… need to… need to tell…" she muttered. "Dumbledore… I must talk…"

"Shhh!" the headmaster hushed her. "Don't speak, you must rest in the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey will take care of you."

"No!" she grasped Albus' arm with a force that wasn't to be expected from a woman so weak. "I have to tell… the truth!" she wheezed, but her eyes were showing resolution – some mad resolution. "I… I have escaped from… Malfoy Manor… Lucius… has been keeping me under… _Imperius_… for twelve years… but… I finally had… enough strength to… to break free!"

"Come, Mrs. Malfoy, let us find an empty classroom nearby," Albus suggested. They couldn't listen to her in the Entrance Hall, could they?

"Potter's study is right here around the corner," Snape said.

The headmaster steered Narcissa into the room and made her sit down at the desk. "So… this is… Harry Potter's room?" she asked warily. "Harry Potter…" her confused stare seemed to have cleared all of a sudden. "Harry Potter is in… lethal danger!" she jumped up from her seat, only to get pushed back into it by the headmaster. "You must know… the truth… about Norbert!" she yelled.

"Your son?" Albus blinked, surprised.

"Don't call him my son!" she breathed, her pretty face contorting into a mask of pure horror and suffering. "He is… he is… the Dark Lord!"

The others gasped. Minerva clutched at her heart and Cho let out a small squeal.

"No! Impossible!" the headmaster said. "He can't be! He couldn't have been reborn! It is out of question!" 

"He found… found a way to be reborn," Mrs. Malfoy whispered. She strongly resembled Bartemius Crouch senior when he had entered the Hogwarts grounds before the third task so many years ago: her clothes tattered, her skin dirty and bruised, and some madness showing in her eyes. Madness, but an extremely strong will to tell what she wanted.

"But… how?" Snape knitted his eyebrows. He was deadly pale. Now he at least understood why his Dark Mark had been hurting ever since September – ever since Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy had entered Hogwarts. "You have given birth to that… _monster_?"

"Noooo…" Narcissa sobbed. "I didn't."

"You didn't? But… the Hogwarts parchment book… it registered him as your son," McGonagall reasoned. She had seen it the very night her wedding to Aberforth had taken place. Norbert had been born that night.

Narcissa raised her head, her eyes full of tears, radiating the long-time torment she had been subjected to. "_He isn't my son_. Lucius… … bewitched the parchment book."

"That's it!" Aberforth slapped his forehead.

"What?" Albus, Snape and Cho asked in unison.

"Minnie, remember our wedding night?" Aberforth said. "We saw Lucius Malfoy coming out of the purple room. That is when he … _must have_ bewitched the book."

"I see," the headmaster nodded. "But if Norbert, or… _Voldemort,_ isn't Narcissa's son, then whose?"

However, Mrs. Malfoy could no more reply. She had collapsed onto the desk.

"Aberforth, please, take this lady up to Madame Pomfrey," Albus said. "She needs Poppy's care, she's been through a lot. Severus, Miss Chang, Minerva, please, come with me. We shall have a look at the book, then find young Devilsmoor-Malfoy. I believe we need to ask him some questions."

* * * * *

Just as Aberforth departed with the unconscious Narcissa, a group of people ran through the oak front door.

The Potter children and Draco Malfoy.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Lily Potter was panting. "Professor, look at this!" she pushed a parchment into the old wizard's hand.

Albus read the letter. "_So it has begun,_" he whispered.

"What?" Severus asked.

"Daniel Potter's been kidnapped. I think we all know who's behind this, right?"

"My brother!" Draco interjected.

"Indeed, Mr. Malfoy, your so-called brother," nodded the headmaster. "Lord Voldemort."

"WHAT??????" Draco gasped and staggered some steps backwards as though he had been slapped hard in the face. 

While the triplets exchanged confused, or rather terrified looks, whispering 'I don't believe this', 'it must be a joke', Lily Potter turned a nasty shade of green and seemed to be close to fainting. Cho jumped to her to support her weight. 

She had befriended Voldemort? – Lily thought. She had let Voldemort hold her… _kiss her_? She had never felt such terrible nausea wash over her before.

"Minerva, please, take the children with you," the headmaster instructed. "Lily, you stay with us. We'll be needing your help."

"My… help, sir?" she breathed, fighting down the urge to throw up. "How… how could I help you…?"

"You will help us open a door, young lady. But first, we must see that book, ladies and gentlemen."

"What book?" Malfoy frowned. "My brother… er, the Dark Lord…? Gosh, I can't believe it! He's kidnapped Potter's son and you are going on about reading a book?"

"We _must_ read it, Draco. Now. It might help us save the Potters," Albus said sternly, beckoning to the others to follow him to the purple room. "We need to see the Hogwarts parchment book, because your mother has just informed us that your father has bewitched it."

"My mother?" Draco paled even more. "She's here?"

"Yes, she's just arrived, in a rather bad condition, if I might add. She claimed to have been under _Imperius_ for twelve years. Don't worry, young man, she is being take care of now. So, she informed us that Lucius had put some curse on the parchment book to register the newborn Voldemort with wrong parentage."

"Of course, wrong parentage, my mother is not his mother!" Malfoy huffed, shaking with rage, still unable to comprehend what he had just got to know. That little boy whom he had known as his half-brother was the reincarnated Dark Lord himself? Now at least he understood why he had never been able to love that boy. "He is father's illegitimate child from another woman," he continued. "Father's been threatening both mother and me not to tell anyone… but up till now I haven't understood why… _now I understand_. Damn, I knew that father was a lunatic, but never thought that he was this raving mad! Raising… a son that he _knew_ had the spirit of the Dark Lord?"

"Well, Lucius has always been a bit eccentric, hasn't he?" Albus said, opening the door to the purple room. Lucius' deeds, though, surpassed Draco's idea of eccentricity. 

The headmaster, Draco, Snape, Lily and Cho all hurried into the room, to the small dais bearing the book.

"So…" the headmaster raised his wand over the book. "There must have been a Confundus charm, if I'm not mistaken. It's quite silly of us to not have checked the book of curses, but it never occurred to us that someone would bewitch it… _Finite Incantatem,_" he touched the tip of his wand to the book that shuddered, as if shrugging off some unwanted magic.

With trembling hands, Albus started turning the pages back, back, back, to the 10th December, 2000. There were two entries for that day. One for Lancelot Percival Galahad Weasley, the other…

_Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy, born 10th December, 2000, parents…_

Everyone seeing that single line – including Draco Malfoy – gasped.

"Holy shit," Dumbledore muttered, and this time the others didn't even look surprised by hearing the old wizard curse.

* * * * *

"You're pathetic," Harry spat. "Only a mentally ill person would do such a thing. Why not kill us right away?"

"Had I killed you right away, where would have been the fun?" Norbert grinned, twirling his wand between two fingers. "I wanted you to suffer as much as possible before doing away with you. I wanted both you and dear little Virginia to suffer. I wanted to drive you mad, Potter, mad with confusion and heartache. Why do you think that sweet little Lily turned on you?"

Harry gasped. "You don't mean… that it was your doing as well?"

"Of course it was! I never wanted anything from your daughter, Harry… It wasn't she using me, but _me_ using _her._ I was never in love with her. I played that I was, in order to make her believe that I was giving her a real friend-to-friend Valentine's Day's gift."

"What gift?" Harry asked.

"A pretty necklace. A bewitched necklace. Or rather call it: a curse-necklace. You know, if you want to control one's emotions, you can best do it by creating some jewellery that symbolises the daily phenomenon on his or her birthday. I gave her a necklace with four little orbs that looked like mere beads. But they symbolised the planets visible at the moment of her birth. It's a damn old Dark Art, but you, oh great and noble Harry Potter, weren't supposed to have heard of it."

"You have been controlling my sister, too, just like me?" Daniel whispered, cowering in the corner.

"No, I've been controlling her in another way," Norbert answered. "I couldn't control her actions, only her emotions… towards her father," he sent Harry a really nasty grin. "She turned on you, didn't she, Harry? She told you on several occasions that she hated you, didn't she? And she still hates you… you are going to die knowing that your daughter hates you and will hate you as long as she lives. She will hate the very memory of you, Potter, and will dance on your grave."

"You are truly mad," Harry's eyes narrowed. He just couldn't believe that all those sorrows because of Lily's 'hatred' had been caused by this aberrant creature in front of him. How much grief it had given him to see his daughter's emerald eyes radiating despise, to hear her telling him _'you are not my father_!'… to think that it had not been real should have been elating for Harry… the knowledge that Lily had never really hated him should have made him jump for joy… but not under these circumstances. He was going to die without hearing Lily tell _'I love you, dad'_… What he would have given to hear her say it just once more! But he was going to die. He, Ginny, their unborn child and perhaps Daniel, too… if only a miracle would happen… anything… he'd gladly die if he had the opportunity to give his Lily one last hug and tell her how much he loved her.

His eyes met Norbert's cold grey ones, and he saw that there was no way out. Those eyes held nothing but hate and malice. 

"I see I have touched a delicate point, Potter," Norbert smirked. "And soon I'll be touching even more delicate points… Poor, poor Potter, you can't do anything to stop me. And if you are expecting help from outside, say, someone finding that letter and accidentally finding their way here, rest assured that they'll be walking into a trap... for my super-weapon, Daniel, will be able to disarm them all with a single thought, and I won't even have much more to do than simply say the good old _Avada Kedavra_… I wish Snape would come, then I could settle my little business with him… a bit later than I wanted, but delays do not matter as long as the result is his death… you know I was terribly upset when I didn't manage to kill him back at Halloween and at the Quidditch match, so I sort of vented my anger on his lover, that caretaker. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to kill her," he added with a pitiful pout.

Under different circumstances Harry would have been surprised that the caretaker had been referred to as 'her', but now all he could concentrate on was Norbert and his acts. "You were the one who set the Bludgers on Snape, then?" he asked.

"Or course I was. Who else? Certainly not innocent little Daniel here… but I had to test him before I tried his powers on Snape."

"Test him?" Ginny scowled, understanding dawning on her. "The basilisk. You mean the basilisk."

"Of course I do," Norbert nodded. "I was watching Dan's little duel with Kevin Weasley. When Kevin conjured a baby-lion, I was sure that Dan would try and imagine a snake to prove that his house was as good if not better than Gryffindor… I sort of took over control and imagined a huge serpent looking like a basilisk… I channelled that image through Daniel who executed my will, and with a pop the serpent was there. Very useful to know what to do with Imaginers, really… certainly I would have been delighted if the snake had killed Dan's annoying cousin as well… but it doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that matters is that I have our Imaginer on a leash, thanks to that book."  

"How… how did you get hold of Viviane Vablatsky's book?" Daniel asked. "When we came down into the chamber together, you couldn't have ripped out that page… Gilda or I would have noticed… or did you bewitch us not to notice it? Did you _Imperio_, then memory-charm us to forget what we had seen?"

"No, Dannie… why be so drastic when it could be done much easier? Wittier? With cunning instead of unnecessary wandwaving?"

"Cunning, eh?" Harry snorted. "That is what you Malfoys pride yourselves on, isn't it?"

"Malfoys? Oh come off it!" Norbert stamped his foot impatiently. "I have told you not to call me a Malfoy!"

"Why not? You _are _a Malfoy!" Professor Potter hissed.

"No, am not. Well, I'm Malfoy by name, but not by blood…"

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean that it wasn't Lucius Malfoy who fathered me… who fathered this body."

"Then who?" Harry furrowed his brow.

Norbert fixed him with a penetrating stare, some inexplicable fire blazing in his otherwise icy grey eyes and a tiny little smile appeared in the corner of his mouth.

"_You_." 

**A/N:** give Bucky and njprincesssky a big hand, ladies and gentlemen! They are the only ones who ever guessed this, bravo!

_Katrina:_ you know, I was amused to no end when reading you review, it was soooo entertaining, I was giggling all along! :) You're clever that you found out about the necklace, well done! I loved this: "leetle bruzzer my ass!" LOL. And yes, you were totally right about Norbert's parentage… at least on the mother side. Did you suspect the father's identity, too? Please, if you set a dragon on me, make it be Hungarian Horntail at least, I love my country dragons :D About the train station… hm, yes, it'll be mentioned in the next chapter.  Cho sacrificing herself for Voldemort???? I think not! 

_Colei:_ yes, he did seem a nice little chap… my mum told me the same about the fake Mad-Eye Moody. In fact her fave character in GoF was the fake Mad-Eye, and she was so upset when he turned out to be evil!

_Altec:_ Norbert was Voldemort from the second he was born, he had no other soul, only that of Voldemort. Yes, you were right about the psychological warfare, clever! About Norbert not winning at the tournament – he'll explain in the next chapter.

_No longer a Lone Wolf_: sorry, but I'm not that much of a pervert to make Lily go out with Voldemort.

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: glad you liked the anagram. And no, Norbert doesn't only think that he's Voldemort – he IS Voldemort.

_Phoenix_Kiss02_: in the next chapter I'll explain how Voldie could come back when he had killed several people. Well, did I give you another heart attack at the end of this chapter?

_Black Ice_: you overanalysed things, the three references are on the top, you got two of them right. I deliberately didn't use a canon character to be the evil one, because I wanted to give Harry the greatest shock of his life by that single word of three letters that closed this chapter *wicked grin*

_dipstick:_ yes, you got two of the three references right. You wrote: _"I'm now a little confused as to why you told me I was on the right lines when I said the person who tore the page out of the book must have been family."_ Are you STILL confused about this one?

_Alexander Phoenix_: yes, insane, isn't it? ;)

_Beauty in Disguise_: well, sometimes your feelings are right but you don't listen to them… I think I have answered one of your questions (how Norb knew that Dan was an Imaginer), and I'll answer the other two in the next chapter. 

_Houou_: yes, wizards do have funny weddings… I believe I have answered your questions in the chapter, haven't I?

_kryptKnight:_ wow… you also have an extremely vivid imagination, but no… no time-machine, no Tatyana kidnapping the goat.

_Desiree:_ do you play in a band?

_maggie_: yes, I'm evil (nevil;)

_MauiGoddess3_: yes, Tatyana's grave thing will be explained in the next chapter. No, Ginny didn't lose the baby this time.

_figgiesblazin_: clever, yes, it was the necklace controlling Lily!

_Nefertiri:_ no, Norbert didn't get any sort of help from Narcissa, only from Lucius. He is really Voldemort, at least his sprit is that of Voldemort. Why can't you use your scanner? What sort of scanner do you have? I have a Canon one, in case yours is similar I could help. About Snape's love bringing Beryl back to life: I thought it was a cute thing that she heard him say he loved her, and that gave her strength to survive. Smutty, I know, but cute. 

_Inigma:_ no problem with cursing, Albus also said 'holy shit' in this chapter :) Yes, I love shocking my readers. Not many people suspected Norbert. Only two or three told me looooong ago (months ago) that they found Norb suspicious, but no one lately has found him suspicious. Yes, your guessing is right :) But I doubt that in other respect the fic is predictable… is it? For example… did you expect Norbert to answer with 'you' to Harry?  Yes, I get the reviews into my mailbox (at least 90% of them, ffnet tends to 'forget about' 10%, dunno why). And no, your reviews didn't annoy me in the least :) I hope you didn't lose your fic because of your computer's malfunctioning. You know, when I'm writing a fic, I always save it on a floppy disk every time I add new chapters. You should save it more often to a floppy disk, and then you wouldn't have problems like that. Of course you can put my fics on your site. But I believe it'd be better if I sent them to you instead of you linking to them, because I've changed a lot in the first two fics since uploading them onto ffnet (I didn't change anything in the plot, but now they have better grammar and spelling).

_Princess Ginny:_ yes, I deliberately put that 'weird look on the train station' into the fic, but it seems that not many people found it suspicious. A Hungarian friend of mine who has read the whole fic already, told me that at the beginning she found Norbert suspicious, but later on he was such a nice boy, that her suspicion subsided. I think this happened to many readers. The reason for me not sending you mails nowadays is that I don't get such funny ones nowadays. In case I'll get some, I'll send them to you, I promise.

_Tap Dancing Widow_: I'm glad your jaw dropped :D

_ArgiCallista:_ thank you, that's a great compliment :D

_BigDaddy753_: great, this means I managed to surprise you! Give me your email-address, and I'll send you a fanfic-recommendation list.

_jennaration_: yes, I did it! :D Now you know why and how Dan got into Slytherin.

_King Jasbon_: Norbert sort of used Lily as a tool to hurt Harry.

_The Millenium One_: noooo, I'm not going to hit you! Don't worry, all loose ends will be tied up. 

_PhoenixFire_: hehe, no, your theory of Voldie being reborn isn't correct (though it's really imaginative). 

_susieq05_: no, in fact it didn't take a lot of thought to come up with that. At the end of the next chapter I'll explain HOW I got the idea for this whole fic, you'll see that it was pretty spontaneous. 

_VegaKeep:_ who's Lord Joke? Sorry, I have no idea. He must be in a book/movie I haven't read/seen. Who is your Patron Saint of idiots as President?

_spaloosa:_ well, counting nine months from Voldemort's death couldn't give you any solution, since he died in July 1998, while Norbert was born in December 2000. I believe now you have the answer for how Norbert got into Gryffindor's chamber, right? And perhaps now you know how Tatyana fits into the picture, too. If not, then the next chapter will reveal that, too. Your theory of Voldie being reborn isn't correct, because he HAD killed some people directly, for example Lily and James Potter. Well, the kids were smart enough to get help, weren't they? Don't worry about being an exception, I didn't like boys till I was 16, too. All girls in my primary and high school were already head over heels in love with boys, and I just couldn't understand what they saw in them… :)

_Indigo Ziona_: well, now you have your answer for the Gryffindor blood, don't you? Haha, Ashley the bat, that's cute. 

_Shazzman:_ well, if you re-read the story up till now, you'll notice all those little hints that allude to Norbert being 'weird', they were all there, subtly. The Russian woman whose name you can't recall is Tatyana. So, was chapter 27 your fave? My fave is chapter 28 and 29, because these ones are even eviler than chapter 27 (IMHO).

_Kit Cloudkicker_: well, of course Voldie had something to do with Dan getting into Slytherin!

_Inken:_ Harry went to the chamber willingly, but when he was just about to try and open its door, the door was opened by Dan's powers and he got sucked in and was forced into shackles. 

_AmandaPanda:_ not all Malfoys are nice… but again, Norbert isn't a Malfoy, not really.

_Wood's secret lover_: no, why would Pinky be albino? I just thought that after Winky and Dinky and Kinky, there could be a Pinky as well :)

_LadySiri:_ sorry to disappoint you, but Norbert isn't a nice guy possessed by an evil spirit: he's been evil since the day he was born, since he was born with Voldemort's spirit. Why did you change your name? I liked SiriDragon a lot.

_Toby Haine:_ no, I wasn't blushing when reading your review, on the contrary: I was grinning widely all along. Your reviews always make me feel so good, but this one made me feel better than any before. Thank you. I'm sorry that you couldn't find other decent mystery fics. I have to admit that I haven't even tried to find any, I'm not reading many fics on ffnet anymore. If you want to read some good mystery fic, then go to w w w. schnoogle . com, and read 'Harry Potter and the Fall of Childhood' by Shayla. I think it's quite mysterious. You wrote_: "do you know, JKR actually read some fanfic during the 'idea stealing scandal'"._ Er… what is that 'idea stealing scandal'? Sorry, I didn't understand. Do you know JKR's address at all? I for one don't know, and I doubt that I'd ever write her… but I've heard some terrible news that I hope is just a hoax: JKR might not write a book six and seven! In case this is true, then I'm going to find out what her address is and send her a nasty Howler! 

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: sorry, Beryl doesn't die. I can't be that evil to poor Snape, can I? Don't worry, someone will surely die.

_Wizzabee:_ Norbert was never his own person, he has always been Voldemort. Make Draco turn good? Hm… I thought I have already done that in TGSaWCS… remember his behaviour towards Ginny… and he hasn't been that nasty in this fic at all.

_C-chan_: do you know L-chan personally? Is she a friend of yours? Your theory isn't right, because Voldie did kill Ginny in TGSiHH (although he wanted to kill Harry). Sorry, I'm not a Matrix fan at all. But we at least share our enthusiasm for Johnny English :) Bravo, yes, it was the necklace!

_Sean Mulligan:_ of course Gabie will get together with Draco!

_Laura_: both Harry and Ginny thought that Dumbledore was abroad. Even Norbert thought that Albus was away. Of course Lucius knows that Norbert is Voldemort, but he isn't worried about that, on the contrary.

_'mione we@sley_: thanks :) But I can't make Norbert good again, because he has never been good :(

_thecrazygirl_: no, Norbert didn't take the page when Daniel wasn't looking – he went into the chamber alone. And perhaps now you can find out how he did it. Sorry, but there won't be a sequel to this one. This fic will be so very 'closed' that I couldn't continue it.

_Lioness-07863_: now you know why Norbert didn't want to be called a Malfoy. He's NOT a Malfoy, at least not by blood… you wrote _'please, update soon, both stories!'_. Er… didn't you notice that I wrote 'FIN' at the end of chapter three of Gadding with Goats? It's a finished story, no more chapters.

_CHLF_: thank you very much!

_Red Ridding Hood_: I'm sorry to have caused you such a nasty shock… and I hope you still managed to sleep well :)

_2Coolio_: well, now you know that Norb isn't Nacrissa's child, and I'm sure you can guess who the mother is. 

_Danalas the Lady Chaos_: er… what is CCGs? I have no idea. I think the third reference you couldn't find wasn't that obvious, so don't worry, you can still call yourself a diehard SW fan :)

_Mistri:_ I hope you weren't hyperventilating for a long time!

_rebkos_: yes, indeed it was Norbert who sabotaged the baby. And yes, Lily sort of comes to the rescue.

_Elfangor19:_ sorry, but I'm not going to revive Lily and James. No Green Flame Torch is accessible now, and I don't want them to reincarnate. They are happy in heaven :) 

_megamick50:_ now perhaps you can guess how Norbert managed to get that page unnoticed. 

_CloverWeave_: many people said that they couldn't believe that they hadn't thought of that, so you're not the only one ;)

_Lupin's Angel: _no, I didn't use Tatyana as a red herring, I used her with a good reason. Perhaps you can guess now what it was. Tell Gwen (is she your friend?) that she's right about Snape. But no Malfoy incest, no way! The name Devilsmoor was made up by me, Rowling had absolutely nothing to do with it. I'm not afraid of your Orcs and Ringwraiths, send them if you want. I have an Imaginer on my leash to do away with them all! 

_sikokid:_ yes, I'm evil :)

_K. C. Hunter:_ I hope I won't get chickenpox again, I looked terrible when I got it (my mum took a photo, it looks teeeeerrrrible!)

_goldenstar555_: yes, but they aren't going to make a cute couple anymore :(

_Angela:_ Norbert still looks cute… takes after his father *evil grin*

_Any last requests_: I believe it was you who took this 'Norbert being evil' thingie the best way. You seemed to be happy about it! :)

_Zenon Lee_: who said that Norbert WASN'T the heir of Gryffindor? Well, of course Voldemort could threaten the wizarding world, especially because he can control an extremely powerful Imaginer.

_Amaranta:_ I'm glad you remembered the parchment book and Lucius leaving the room, not many people did, bravo! Don't worry, I'm not letting Ginny miscarry now. I hope you'll get OotP soon after 21st June.

_maureen_: I believe I have answered many of your questions, and the rest will be answered in the next chapter. As for Norbert knowing about the fake recipe… don't worry, he can't use the good recipe to turn immortal. At first I was playing with the thought of including that into the fic, but then I realised that it wasn't possible, because in order the use that potion you have to be "reborn" (like Voldie did in GoF) using the blood of your enemy. However, Norbert's body wasn't reborn with the 'blood, flesh, bone' method, so he can't use the Potion of Immortality. Oh, you're right, I made a mistake with the necklace! Norbert was supposed to say 20th June! Stupid me, I didn't notice. Thanks for pointing it out, I corrected it (in my computer, of course, I'm not going to replace chapter 18 just because of this). Angel isn't important, she's just there to provide some 'cuteness'. 

_sabby:_ glad you think that it matches :)

_Rose_: hm… let's hope that Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and the others will also play in the GoF movie! Anyway, as far as I know, Robbie Coltrane signed a contract for playing in five movies, so he also seems to be sure to play Hagrid.

_Scarlet Dragon_: yeah, if someone's too nice for a Malfoy, then he's suspicious! ;) 

_TaMaraR_: hehe, I'm glad you're shocked :) I just love using Empire Strikes Back scenes, Han and Leia's bantering fit so well for Minerva/Aberforth and Draco/Gabie.

_Punky Poet_: yes, of course a lost child has a special place in your heart, but Harry and Ginny never got to know that child… so perhaps it wasn't THAT special. Draco yelled at Norbert in chapter 24 that Norbert had deliberately lost his duel and brought shame on the Malfoy name – that was what riled Gabie. 

_Mage_: Tatyana is in no condition to show up anywhere…

_Myr Halcyon:_ that chu-beard must be really funny, I'd like to see one :)

_Amazing typo_: not many people knew it, you can be proud :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: bring back Cedric? LOL. Don't worry, Cho will stop chasing Harry and even Cedric's name will be mentioned again (though he won't come back). Beryl's former husband won't even put in an appearance, he was only the reason for Beryl to flee to Hogwarts where she could meet Snape. This time dead people WILL stay dead. As I've said before, I don't tamper with time, so my fics never contain time-travel. 

_seashell:_ Draco hasn't been really nasty since TGSaWCS, so I believe that he doesn't need to 'turn good'. He's as good already as he can get, don't expect more from a Malfoy ;) Norbert/Voldemort does have the intention of taking over Hogwarts and the whole wizarding world, but before that he wanted to torture and kill Harry – you know, 'play' a bit. Well, if Norbert just killed Harry without giving his reasons and giving the whole tale, then my poor readers would never get to know how it all happened… so he can't play the 'overlord' in that respect. Anyway, Norbert is firm in the belief that as long as he has Daniel in his control, no one can stop him. Let him in his belief for a while.

_Squalldaman_: goosebumps are cool ;) LOL about the JKR thing, it made me grin. Thank you. 

_twinkle-toes_: Lockhart – not so irritating? Wow, great! :D Lily isn't really mean… she's just controlled, the poor thing. She never wanted to be mean to her dad. As for the reincarnating stuff, I quote Anna Karenina's ghost in chapter 22 of TGSaWCS (she's talking about Tatyana): _'__No, her body is just twenty-eight years old, I believe. But her soul is much older than mine. She – her soul – has been reincarnating for centuries… it's strange, you know. Only a possessed spirit, that wants something so terribly that it drives it crazy, can reincarnate for so many times… until it reaches its aim.'_ And since Voldemort couldn't reach his aim (immortality and rule of the whole world) in his former life, he just had to reincarnate.

_Romina_: my illustration will be linked into chapter ten of The Devil's Dilemma, but not on ffnet, since you can't link here, but on w w w. schnoogle. com. Don't worry, Ginny isn't going to lose her baby now :)

_Kamatazi Yumi_: no, sorry, no voyeur frogs (thought it'd be rather funny;) You still like Norbert? Hm… weird.

_heavenly182angel_: no, Voldemort cannot come out of Norbert, and no, Lucius didn't sacrifice his youngest son for Voldemort. Norbert's not his son, after all… Yes, Norbert/Voldemort is definitely linked to Lucius 'burying' Tatyana. If you're clever, you can now find out how it was.

_aprenticeofdobby:_ I'm glad I managed to surprise you :)

_reviewer:_ many people have told me that I should write an own story and get it published. I'd like to, but not now. Later. I have to mature a bit to become a published author, refine my style and everything… and most important of all: make up an own story! That's the hardest part :)

_Lady Schezar:_ yes, this baby will live :D

_Kristen Michelle_: don't worry, Gilda will never turn out to be evil. And Dan will only partially save the day. There are 31 chapters put together, so not much left. Did you think that the last chapter was the evilest thing I've ever written… hm… somehow I think that the ending of this one was perhaps even eviler. What do you think?

_Rab_: I thought that baptising an elf could be cute. *shrugs*

_apple-pie_: how Voldie got reborn will be explained in the next chapter. How he could get into the chamber? I believe now you have this answer… as for Tatyana, perhaps now you can find out how she was involved. Glad you liked Snape saying 'I love you' :)


	29. Father and Son

A/N: Bravo, clever readers, you've managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together… more or less, at least. The rest is my task.

I've drawn a sketch of a scene in this chapter – about a very angry Harry and a scared Norbert. In case you want to see it, tell me and I'll send it to you.

There will be dates in this chapter that might confuse the American readers. I used the British date-order: day/month/year, so when you read 10/12/2000, it means 10th December 2000, not 12th October 2000.

This chapter is dedicated to the wonderfully clever _Bucky _who had insisted on Norbert being evil all along and also thought of him being Harry's child before anyone else did. 

Chapter 29

**Father and Son **

"You're insane," Harry breathed.

"Am not," Norbert replied. "You. Are. My. Father."

"Impossible! How…?" 

"How? Well, let me tell you a story," Norbert said. "Or rather… show it?"

"Show… what?" Ginny knitted her eyebrows. She had a very bad feeling. They were in a bad enough situation, but her feelings told her that soon they'd be getting into an even worse one.

A secretive little smile was playing around Norbert's mouth as he looked from Harry to Ginny, seeing confusion on their faces – confusion and something showing that they were holding him for a complete fool. 

"You think I'm raving mad, right?" he grinned. "Oh, I'm not. Never been, Harry. But if you don't believe me… I'm going to show you. You grew up with Muggles, didn't you? Then I expect you like watching television…" with a swish of his wand he conjured some screen-like object that hovered in mid-air. "Let the show begin." 

Another flick with his wand, and the screen came to life, showing a dark room with a bed and a figure lying in it. The screen-illusion looked the perfect replica of a Muggle TV replaying some old VHS tape. Even the datum could be seen in the corner: 07.04.2000.

Steps could be heard and a man with greyish-blond hair walked up to the bed.

The figure in the bed stirred. _"Where am I?"_ it asked in a feminine voice that sounded strangely familiar to Harry, but he couldn't place it. 

_"You are at Malfoy Manor,"_ came the answer.

_"But… am I not dead?"_ the woman, whose face was in shadow, asked. _"I… I thought I died… I… I killed my lover, then I…"_

_"…then you lost consciousness because you were seriously injured,_" the man replied, whom Harry and Ginny recognised as Lucius Malfoy. "_You were injured, but not dying. The others thought you died and I took on to bury you… I made a fake grave for you and brought you here."_

_"Why?_" she breathed. "_You… you came with the red-headed men… you were on the other side, fighting against us… then why save me?"_

"_That's rather simple, my dear,"_ Lucius sat down on the bed. "_I did not want you to die or get into Azkaban, because I need you."_

_"Me? What for?"_

"_Well, actually it's not even me who wants you… but my Lord. And actually it's not even you whom he wants, but something that is in your possession."_

_"In my possession?"_ her voice was hoarse and sounded scared. _"But I have nothing. Nothing left at all. All that I had was destroyed when I killed the only man I have ever loved… what could I have that your lord wants?"_

_"Well, my dear_…" Lucius said, "_the child you are carrying."_

_"Child?"_ she gasped. _"What are you talking about? I can't be… Anor and I haven't had a chance to… oh my gosh!"_

_"I see have you finally understood,"_ Malfoy said.

She sat up, her face that had been in shadow now got illuminated by a candle on the bedside table. She looked frightened. Harry had never seen this woman so frightened. But Harry _had_ seen this woman enough times to remember her for a lifetime.

_"I'm with Harry Potter's child,_" she breathed.

Lucius nodded. "_Yes, dear Tatyana, you are."_

The screen went blank for some seconds and Norbert looked from the deadly pale Harry to the scared-to-death Ginny. "Liked it so far? Well, the show must go on!"

The dark room reappeared on the screen with a new datum: 10.12.2000.

This time, however, the room wasn't silent as for the first time. Screams filled the air – painful screams, coming from the direction of the bed. As though some magical camera had suddenly zoomed in on its occupant, the suffering face of Tatyana Fiodrovna came into focus. Though the room was dark, the torment could easily be seen on her usually beautiful features. Beads of sweat were trickling down her forehead and her teeth were gritted as she clutched at the sheet, crumpling it in her pain.

"_How long to go?"_ Lucius' voice came from the left, but he couldn't be seen. He was obviously there in the room, waiting.

"_Not long, sir,"_ a house-elf's squeaking little voice replied as she hurried up to the woman on the bed. "_You are doing fine, miss, just a little more time_…"

"_Get this bloody thing out of me!"_ Tatyana howled, slumping back onto her pillow.

_"Patience, miss, patience!"_ the elf pleaded.

Another form hurried into view, holding a basin of hot water.

"_Narcissa, help her!"_ Lucius instructed.

_"I'm doing everything in my power, but I can't quicken the process! I'm no mediwizard!"_

_"You aren't fond of Cruciatus, my sweet, are you_?" Malfoy's voice said somewhat gentler. The blonde woman shook her head. "_Good. Then get moving!"_

Both Narcissa and the house-elf bent over Tatyana, blocking her out of view. For minutes only her screams could be heard. Then suddenly… a baby-cry.

A chair creaked, as though someone had just stood up from it and Lucius' back appeared. "_Move away from her,"_ he said coldly.

Narcissa, holding a baby that was still sticky and mucky, backed away, her eyes radiating utter horror.

Panting, the young mother looked up. "_What is… going on…?"_ she breathed, but as an answer came a flash of green light, following the words _Avada Kedavra_.

Harry gasped. That was the other half of his returning nightmare: a woman screaming with pain, then the green light…

On the screen Narcissa wrapped the child into some blanket and her husband took it out of her hands. Lucius' face seemed exhilarated – it was beaming as he looked down at the tiny bundle and whispered: "_Welcome back, My Lord_."

It all fitted. It all bloody fitted! The datum: 10th December, 2000! Harry did remember that day – Minerva and Aberforth's wedding. He had been talking to Neville, when Neville had accidentally let some cookie fall, and they had both bent down for it. Their heads had clashed and Harry's forehead had exploded with pain. Neville had merely massaged his own forehead but hadn't seemed to have serious pains. Harry, however, had felt pain. And it hadn't been just because he had bumped his head with Neville's… very possibly that had been the very second Voldemort had been reborn. 

Reborn… as _his son_.

He just couldn't find words. He felt numb and dumb. All he could do was watch the boy's face, and suddenly recognise the resemblances: his hair wasn't black because the Malfoys had had vampire ancestors – it was black because both Harry and Tatyana's was black. His eyes weren't grey because all the Malfoys' were grey – those were Tatyana's icy-grey eyes again. Now he understood everything. But he wished he hadn't. He wished he were deaf not to hear and blind not to see. He wished he were mentally subnormal to be unable to understand all what he had just seen and heard…

The first time when he had met Norbert at King's Cross, Norbert had given him – or rather his scar – a peculiar glance that had made a shiver ran down Harry's spine. That feeling he had had towards this boy all along now had an explanation. What he had told Hagrid back at Christmas about feeling that there was something repulsing yet attracting in this boy was also explained… he understood it. 

Finally he did.

He had been repulsed because his subconscious had told him that something was wrong with this boy… he had felt the evil in him, but hadn't let it enter his conscious, it had remained suppressed all along… he had felt repulsed by Lord Voldemort, even though he had had no idea that Norbert was him.

And he had felt attracted to Norbert all the same, for this boy was his son. 

His flesh and blood. 

Aberforth Dumbledore had felt affection for Julie when he hadn't even known that they were related, and the same way Harry had felt that there was something about this boy… his blood. 

His blood… and that of Godric Gryffindor.

"That is how you opened the door to this chamber?" he whispered. It wasn't really a question – it was rather a statement.

"Yes, of course," Norbert nodded. "I'm also Gryffindor's descendant, through you, though I find it a bit ridiculous after having been Slytherin's heir for so long…"

"You're my brother, then?" Daniel's voice spoke up, sounding disgusted. "You're my brother and you still stole that page to control me? You are my brother and you tried to… kill me?" tears were running down his face and he turned to Harry. "How could you, dad? How could you ever sleep with another woman and conceive this… this…"

"Monster?" Norbert helped with a fitting term. "Oh, don't be mad at our _dad_, Dan. He wasn't faulty. He had been bewitched and had no idea what he was doing. And he certainly had no idea that Tatyana, his evil seducer, hadn't died."

"Why?" Harry cut in. "Why choose Tatyana? And how did you know about her at all?"

"Haven't I told you before?" Norbert sounded miffed. "Down there in hell you can see everything from the world of the living. It is part of the punishment that you must watch people living happily while you are rotting down there… I was watching your every step, Harry. I was the first to know about Tatyana's pregnancy. She was too eager to wake up her dratted lover from his eternal sleep – she was so eager that she forgot to drink her contraceptive potion before she seduced you for the third time… I knew it and I was intently watching every single second of your stomach-turning sexual encounter. I was watching and waiting… and I practically jumped out of my little pond of fire and brimstone when I witnessed the historic moment: the second of the conception. I was ecstatic to see that one Y and one X chromosome joined… I knew it'd be a boy, thus suitable for me to be reborn as him," he gave the Potters a victorious grin at seeing that Ginny had turned green with nausea and Harry's face was no longer as white as a sheet, but blood-red with anger. 

"Why?" Professor Potter groaned. "Why him? Why _my child_?"

"Oh, of course you don't know… how could you know?" Norbert waved. "There is a rule in the netherworld saying that if you have killed people out of pure evil, then you aren't allowed to reincarnate. I knew this, how could I have not known? And it peeved me a lot. But there is another rule of the netherworld that you didn't know about… that not even the writer of that book _'Death and beyond'_ knew about: even the most evil wizards may get a second chance, under one condition: they might be reborn once, _only once_, and only in the body of their greatest enemy's child. If you were a dark wizard and your greatest enemy didn't have any children, then you weren't in luck. But I was lucky. I knew about this rule and lived with the opportunity. Certainly I didn't want to be reborn as a Potter…" he looked at Ginny. "I couldn't have borne to have a Weasley as my mother. So Tatyana came in handy. I merely had to find a onetime follower of mine and knew that only Lucius Malfoy was at large of all my Death Eaters. He had once been disobedient and I punished him with _Cruciatus._ I heard he had gone temporarily mad and got into St. Mungo's, that's why he was the only Death Eater who wasn't there at Stonehenge… that's why later he was the only Death Eater who wasn't in Azkaban, so the only Death Eater who could help me…"

"And he agreed to help you… after what you have done to him?" Ginny asked, shaking from head to toe. She knew that the longer time they were asking Voldemort questions, the longer time it'd take him to answer (for he had said that he wanted them to know everything before they died), and the longer time they'd live.

"Oh, certainly he did. Apart from that minor disobedience, he was still an avid follower of mine," Norbert replied. "You may be wondering how I got into touch with him when he was alive and I dead…"

"Well, of course we are interested," Ginny said to buy more time, trying to sound nonchalant, but her voice was wavering.

Voldemort nodded. "Sometimes the dead can communicate with the living if they have a strong enough will. Sometimes they can only reach the living through dreams, but if they are very determined in their intentions – as I was -, they can talk to the living any time. I clearly remember the first time I spoke to Lucius after my death… it was some time after you, Virginia, left for Durmstrang."

Ginny gasped. She couldn't believe that Voldemort had seen her leaving for Dursmtrang… that he had seen everything of their lives: all their happy moments, all their sorrows, he had seen into their bodies and souls…

"After you left for Durmstrang, your parents and brothers got a bit worried about you and decided to go after you." Norbert continued talking to her. "They paid Lucius a visit at Malfoy Manor and demanded that Lucius tell them the location of Durmstrang. Lucius, certainly, refused. And that was when I intervened. I talked to him. Naturally, only he heard me. _'Lucius, tell them'_, I said. Poor old Lucius got so frightened by hearing his dead master's voice talking in his head that he dropped the glass he was holding," the boy let out a laugh, as if finding this particular memory highly amusing. "Later, when the Weasleys didn't know where you had gone, I told Lucius to go to Asgard as well."

"Why did you want Malfoy to tell the Weasleys where to go?" Harry asked. He was of the same opinion as Ginny: the longer they talked, the longer they lived. But Harry was no more sure whether he wanted to live at all. Not with the knowledge that he had unintentionally fathered a second Voldemort… that _he was Voldemort's father_. However, for the sake of his wife and Daniel he had to carry on asking, hoping that someone would still find them and help them… though Norbert had told them that all possible rescuers would be walking into a trap… Harry no more knew what to think, what to feel, what to hope for, he just carried on asking.

"Why?" Norbert sneered. "Because I knew about Tatyana's pregnancy and wanted Lucius to go to Durmstrang with the Weasleys to get to Tatyana. He was to get hold of Tatyana by all means and protect her in case the Weasleys or someone wanted to kill her… I needed her alive to carry that child to term and Lucius had to see to it that she would give birth to the child. Tatyana's injury at Asgard came in handy.  Fortunately, her injury made by that sword wasn't lethal. However, that Aaron bloke had pangs of remorse, believing that he had killed her. Lucius had an easy task making everyone believe that Tatyana had indeed died. He told everyone that he had buried her, but instead he took her to his manor and kept her as a prisoner in there until she gave birth… then disposed of her."

"You are disgusting, you know that?" Harry spat.

"I've been told a couple of times, yes," Voldemort grinned. "But your outburst shows that you feel sorry for that poor woman… did you by any chance have feelings for her?"

"No, I did not!" Harry snapped. "I hated her with all my heart for what she did to me, but killing her after she gave birth is just…"

"…cruel," Ginny whispered, looking at her husband. "Harry, you must know that I'm not blaming you… I'm not blaming you for anything."

"I love you," Harry mouthed to her, touching his fingertips to hers. 

With a small smile, she pressed her fingers to his as hard as the shackles let her. "I love you, too."

Norbert started clapping. "Wonderful! You should be playing in some drama, say Romeo and Juliet… you could die for each other in a very believable way… but I'm not letting you die together," he added with a malicious smirk. "Virginia, you killed me at Stonehenge, thus you are to suffer the most. You will be watching your precious husband die… with the help of dear little Daniel."

"NO!" Dan shouted desperately. His face had gone ashen. "You can't make me kill my father!"    

"But of course I can," Norbert replied with utter delight. "You'll be killing your – _our_ – father, with my help. I will be imagining him die and you'll just execute my mental images… so we'll kill him together. What do you say, brother?"

"Don't call me brother!" Daniel yelled, his eyes sparkling with fury. "You're not my brother! I hate you!"

"Good," Voldemort chuckled. "_Hate gives you power_. And your power is just what I need," he turned to Harry again. "So, let us begin with the process, daddy?"

"I'm _not_ daddy to you," Harry hissed through gritted teeth.

"Oh, but of course you are," Norbert leant close to him so that Harry could look into nothing else but his cold grey eyes. "I am of your blood. Like it or not, you are my father. Hm… reminds me of the case of the great king Arthur… unwillingly seduced, unwillingly planting his seed into a witch he despised… and the witch gave birth to Mordred, who killed his own father."

"You mean they killed _each other_," Harry corrected him. "They stabbed each other at the same moment and died at each other's hands. Learn History of Magic before you start quoting anything wrong."

"Well," Norbert stepped back with a little smile, "Mordred wasn't paying attention enough. But Lord Voldemort is. And believe me, I'm going to kill you… do you know, Daniel," he turned to the other boy, "do you know what I actually saw in the Mirror of Erised when we both looked into it back in September?"

"I don't know but I'm not even interested," Dan growled, his chocolate brown eyes narrowed with hate and disgust, his face revealing the terrible frustration he was feeling over not being able to break free from Norbert's control. If Norbert wanted him to, he'd have to kill his parents.

"I don't care if you're not interested…" Norbert shrugged. "I'm still telling it and you all will listen. Well, when I looked into the mirror, I saw myself standing over Harry Potter's dead body, laughing. I had killed him. I had killed my father, just like I had killed my first father in my first life… it was, and still is the greatest desire of my heart," he stepped to Harry again, a hungry look on his face. "How much I have waited for this moment, Potter… how many times I have imagined how I'd be doing it…"

"Then don't talk! Do!" Harry shouted. Let's get it over with. 

Norbert cocked his head, giving him a quizzical look, as if not believing what he had just heard. There was something to that look that clenched Harry's heart – not the evilness of that look, not even the incredulity in it, but the way Norbert's face showed that kind of emotion… it was Harry's very own way of cocking his head and sending the silent message _'I don't believe you have just said that'_… it struck him that this boy looked so much alike him. Not just his hair-colour, but also the line of his lips, the way he furrowed his eyebrows… it was all, all inherited from Harry.

He saw that Norbert glimpsed at Daniel, and knew what it meant: that the next second, or maybe the one after the next, Norbert would imagine him dying, and Daniel would have to carry it out…

One last time Harry looked at Ginny, sending her an unspoken _'I love you forever'_, then at Daniel, sending him an _'It's not your fault, I still love you'_, then finally his stare shifted back to Norbert's face. Norbert. His son. _His greatest enemy_. 

"Do it," he whispered.

A huge grin spread on Norbert's otherwise cute face – he was bracing himself for the long-awaited act…

At that very second the door of the chamber burst open.

* * * * *

Everything happened so fast that Harry couldn't really keep up with the events: four figures dashed into the chamber, three of them holding their wands out, ready to strike down, one smaller, red-headed figure behind them. Those three – Albus, Snape and Cho - immediately shot stunners at Norbert, but the streaks of magic ejected from their wands stopped at midway between them and the boy and exploded into tiny sparks. Before those three could send another curse at the boy, their wands got ripped out of their hands and a huge cage appeared out of nowhere, falling at them. They were trapped. The remaining figure – the smaller redhead - sought a way to flee, but the door of the chamber slammed shut in front of her.

"Why have you brought Lily?" Harry shouted at Dumbledore accusingly. 

The old wizard shot him a 'calm-down-Harry' glance. "We had to. We needed someone to open the door for us, since only Gryffindor's descendants can open it," he sent Norbert a meaningful look. 

"You know, then," the boy said. "You know that Potter's my father."

"Yes, we know. And we've come to save him, Ginny and Daniel from you." 

"Oh, you pathetic, miserable fools!" Norbert cackled. "Save them? You have to get up earlier if you want to outwit me! I have an Imaginer on a leash, didn't you know?"

"Oh, of course we knew, _Voldemort,"_ Albus Dumbledore replied from the cage.

"Ah, so you know that, too," Norbert seemed a bit surprised. "Very curious… how did you get to know?"

"Narcissa Malfoy told us," replied the headmaster coldly. 

"Narcissa?" the boy raised an eyebrow. "I thought Lucius was taking better care of her and making sure that she didn't walk around telling everyone that her son was in fact the Dark Lord… I'll have to punish Lucius for his lack of obedience, I'm afraid… how could she flee from him? Did she tell? I'm really, really interested to know."

"She didn't tell us," Snape grunted. "She only said that she had fled from Malfoy Manor."

"Yes, from Malfoy Manor," Albus added, "and that's exactly what I didn't understand. How could she have come from Malfoy Manor when the Malfoy family wasn't even there?"

"Oh, but of course they were there," Norbert replied. "What made you think that they weren't?"  

"Well," Dumbledore said looking too calm for the seriousness of the situation, "I happened to ask Draco to go to Malfoy Manor to question the house-elves about Lucius' whereabouts. However, Draco didn't find anyone in the Manor. Not even the elves. And I wondered: why?"

"Oh, you crackpot old fool, it was the _Fidelius_," Norbert waved. "You talked Potter's parents into performing it themselves, didn't you? And they chose Pettigrew as their secret-keeper, to my greatest delight…" a disgusting smile spread on his face as he was reliving those moments. "I did the very same, Dumbledore. I sent Lucius to you to tell you that he was about to leave the country with Narcissa, while in fact they never left. One night at September I sneaked out of the castle and Apparated from Hogsmeade to Malfoy Manor to perform the _Fidelius_ on them and the whole household in case someone got suspicious and wanted to talk to Lucius. You know how the _Fidelius_ works: you can be in the same room with its beneficiary, you still won't notice them."

"So, you were Lucius and Narcissa's secret-keeper," Albus drew the conclusion.

"Yes, I was. Pretty witty, isn't it?"

"Witty, indeed," Dumbledore nodded. "But may I ask, Mr. Witty, what you are planning for the future? I have no doubt that you intend to kill all of us… but what about the rest of the world? You cannot take over right after you did away with us… not even with Daniel's help."

"Why couldn't I?" Norbert crossed his arms.

"Because you are – like it or not – just a little boy. A little boy with average magical talents. I have no doubt that Lucius helped you develop some skills needed for Dark Arts before you came to Hogwarts, but you are still not on the same level you were on at the zenith of your power. You won't be able to get back your followers, since they are at Azkaban… and even if you managed to set them free which I doubt, they will not obey you. No Death Eater in his right mind would prostrate himself in front of a mere boy."

"I'm no mere boy, Dumbledore!" Norbert yelled angrily. "I am Lord Voldemort! And trust me, I know enough dark magic to take over the world. All witches and wizards who reincarnate remember the knowledge they had in their previous life. So did my mother… that's why she wanted to reincarnate again and again until she managed to wake up that loser Anor. I remember every piece of Dark Art I had known in my first life, and I can use them at will. Do you think I couldn't have beaten all the candidates at the wizard-knight tournament if I had wanted to? Oh, of course I could have! I could have easily beaten the seventh-years, too. But, I had to lose to some Mudblood, so that Daniel would have a chance to play in the final round, giving me a chance to try his powers… My dear brother Draco was right – I lost deliberately. He nearly unmasked me, but I'll get him for that," Norbert looked at Daniel who was crouching in the corner, looking extremely exhausted. He had been forced to do more Imagining in the last one hour than he had in his whole life.  "I am powerful, Dumbledore. All I need is a bit of Age Correction Potion, and my Death Eaters will be at my side again… Or I won't even need that potion… I have Daniel. With his help I could achieve anything I want… the most impossible things… oh yes," his lips tucked into a satisfied smirk, "I could force him to make me immortal as well… I'll be back to my former glory… thanks to our Harry."

"Harry?" Cho breathed. It was the first time that she spoke.

"Yes, _Harry,_" nodded Norbert. "I'm willing to tell you the history of my returning, if you want. I love talking about myself," he added with a wide grin.

"You don't need to," Albus said. "We know that you are Tatyana Fiodrovna and Harry Potter's son. The parchment book told us so after I removed the enchantment that Lucius had placed on it on the day of your birth. The only thing that I want to know: how came that you managed to be reborn at all?"

"Oh, that I have already told Harry and Virginia… I trust you have read '_Death and beyond'_, Dumbledore?" the headmaster nodded. "Well, then you know the 'killing - no reincarnating' rule… but there's another rule that you didn't know about… that isn't printed in any books… that no one of the living knew about: you can be reborn once, only once, in the body of your greatest enemy's child. And I was lucky enough to get to know that this Tatyana bitch was expecting Potter's little bastard. I merely had to use Lucius' help. So, put it this way: I must thank Harry for my return to life… and soon I'll be fully returned to my power as well. I'm already almost as powerful as you are, Dumbledore, and soon, I'll be even more powerful. Probably the only thing you can do and I can't yet is to turn invisible…" he smirked contentedly.

"Then tell me, Malfoy, or Voldemort, or whatever your name is," Snape interjected, "tell me how you got out of the castle to perform the _Fidelius_ in September without anyone noticing. How did you do it if you couldn't turn invisible?"

"You know, I shouldn't be even answering you, you traitorous scum… but I'll be nice and give you the answer, since this is very likely the last thing you ask in your life… how did I do it? Very easily. I had an Invisibility Cloak."

"But…" Dan seemed to have pulled himself together enough to talk, "you got that cloak for Christmas! How could you have used it back in September?"

"Oh, Dannie, Dannie, Dannie! You are so endearingly naive!" Norbert tutted. "I didn't get the cloak for Christmas. I have always had it. I left it at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays because I didn't want it to catch fire…" he added with a small smile.

"So that was you, too." Albus sighed. "The fire."

"Yes, the fire, Virginia Potter's miscarriage, the spiders at Halloween, Daniel's fall into the well, Daniel Imagining a basilisk, Daniel nearly killing Snape, etc., etc." Norbert replied, looking terribly satisfied with himself. "Even Lily turning on her father was my doing," he turned around to face the redheaded girl who was leaning to the wall, trying to support her weight all along.

"You?" she breathed. "You… you did that?"

"Oh, yes, I did," he advanced on her. "The necklace I gave to you. It drove you mad. It made you hate poor daddy… you may take it off now. But in your place I'd reconsider it… if you keep it on, you'll be able to witness your father's execution without feeling sorry for him. But if you take it off, your heart will be broken into little pieces…" he reached out to cup the girl's chin. "Wouldn't it be easier to carry on hating him? Wouldn't it?" he leant closer, so that his nose was almost touching hers. She remembered the first time they were this close: in the pantry of the Potter house on Christmas Eve. He had been asked to teach her the way of kissing. She still vividly remembered the electric shock that had coursed down her body when his lips had touched hers…

"You bastard!" she pushed him back with such force that he almost fell. "You disgusting son of a bitch! How dared you kiss me? How dared you… you _Voldemort_!"

"Oh, and what's your problem with it? Don't you like my name? You could carry on calling me Norbert, if you like," he grinned. "I was playing with you Lily, I admit, but we weren't a bad couple together… if we teamed up, we could be really, really good, you know… we could take up where we left off…"

She spat at him.

"Honestly, why do you red-headed women do this all the time?" he wiped his face with the sleeve of his robes. "I meant what I said, Lils," he reached out for her again.

"Don't you dare touch me!" she shrieked. "You're not only Voldemort, you're… you're my brother!"

"Oh, and isn't incest fun?" he laughed.

"You son of a bitch!" she hissed. "You are a disgusting creature created by a disgusting relationship! How could you expect me to… to want to have anything to do with you?"

"Disgusting creature, disgusting relationship…" he crossed his arms, pouting. "I'm your brother. You are supposed to… _love me_."

"I'd rather love a flobberworm!" she snapped. "Rather that, than a bastard created by my father's cheating on my mother!"

"_Cheating_?" Norbert laughed. "Oh, you're so naive, Lily. Good ol' dad never cheated on your mother. My mother bewitched him to sleep with her… wasn't his fault."

Lily gave him a quizzical look. "Why should I believe you?" she had seen Harry kissing Cho Chang in the changing room, she could easily imagine that he had had other women besides her mother.

"Because I'm telling you the truth. Dad's innocent. Right, Harry?" Norbert grinned at Professor Potter. "You never wanted to have anything to do with Tatyana… yet you did. Little Lily here says she doesn't want to have anything to do with me…" he reached out to cup the girl's chin,  "but perhaps she still will…"   

"Leave my daughter alone!" Harry shouted. Norbert had never seen him this furious before – he was straining his shackles like the Bible Samson, but he didn't have the strength to make anything tumble down, just his wrists started bleeding heavier and heavier.

"Do you think you are in the situation to give me orders?" the boy laughed at Harry. "You're gravely mistaken. You might be my father, but I'm not the obedient little son… let Lily decide what she wants."

"I _have _decided," she whispered, her eyes fixed on her parents. Her fingers curled around the necklace. "I'd rather die than to have anything to do with _him_. And this also comes from him," with a strong tug she tore the piece of jewellery from her neck and let it fall onto the ground. "Now you are free to kill me. I shall die with my parents, both of whom I dearly love."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears and Harry's face radiated something inexplicable… a mixture of pride, happiness and relief… this was his Lily. _A real Potter_. But… from a certain point of view Norbert was also a Potter, just by another name… still, with the exception of his looks, he was nothing like a Potter. How could he have been, when his soul was that of Voldemort?

"Whatever happens, Lily," Harry said, "I want you to know that you've been very brave. I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks, dad," she said.

"Thanks, daaaad," Norbert imitated Lily's voice in a mocking tone. Her choice clearly wasn't much to his liking. "You've made a mistake, dear sister. You will have to endure the pain of seeing your father die… and it will be a slow, painful death, not a quick _Avada Kedavra_… you will have to witness his agony."

"I'd rather witness his death loving him, than feeling nothing," she drew herself up. "I love him."

"I love you, too," her father replied, his emerald eyes locking with Lily's equally emerald ones, as if they were exchanging a gentle mental caress…

"Great," Norbert's voice broke the silence. "Now that the mushy part is over, we might get down to the exciting part. You know, Dumbledore, I thought that you were away, that's why I chose today for this little kidnapping, but I don't mind that you're here. On the contrary: I'm pleased to present you the execution of The Boy Who Lived. From now on he'll be called… The Boy Who Got Killed By His Own Sons. Like your new title, Harry?" he laughed, then squinted at Daniel.

Harry took a deep breath, as though it had been the last one he took, and braced himself for anything that was to come. His stare slipped from face to face: from Daniel's scared and guilty one to Lily's proud one, then to Cho's tear-soaked one. Cho had told him what she felt for him months ago, yet he hadn't been able to fully believe it. Not until now. Now, as he looked into those beautiful deep-brown eyes, he saw the love in them. This woman indeed loved him… his eyes shifted from her face to Snape's. The Potions Master's expression was almost unreadable, but Harry tried to read between the invisible lines… and what he read there appalled him. There was no contempt, no disgust on Snape's face. None of the usual expressions he had so kindly reserved for Harry. What Harry saw there was respect. 

Respect – for what? He didn't deserve respect. Not when he had – though unintentionally – given Voldemort a chance to return! However, there was no use trying to decipher what Snape's expression really meant, there was no point in delving into the depths of his supposed respect… there was still one person he wanted to give a last glance to…

Ginny. 

His wife. 

His life. 

She was the most beautiful thing in his life -  and not just her looks, but her heart, the way she loved him – it was simply beautiful… a memory worth of taking with himself to the netherworld.

She smiled at him – a brave smile it was. There were no tears in her eyes, although she felt like bawling. She kept her tears at bay. She wouldn't cry, wouldn't let Harry pass with the image of her crying when he could pass seeing her smile…  

"Thank you for being my wife, Gin. You have been the best thing in my life."

"So have been you," she whispered. "I'll be with you soon. Forever."

He nodded, his eyes fixed at her face. He wouldn't look away from her. Let her be the last person he saw in his life… let him die seeing her smile…

Norbert was watching this tender moment between husband and wife with an expression of unmistakable disgust. He wanted them to die miserably, but no, Harry Potter just couldn't feel miserable as long as he was seeing his wife. This riled Norbert. Well, who cares how they die, just let them die at last!

He turned back to Daniel, preparing to Imagine the direst end for The Boy Who Lived. Daniel was trembling, knowing what was to come: he'd be forced to kill. He'd be forced to murder his own father… and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't break out of the other boy's control, he couldn't push back this unwanted intrusion on his mind, this unwilling use of his powers…  

Then he felt a surge of energy build up in his body and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the destruction he was making… He didn't see Dumbledore, Snape and Cho Chang join hands in the huge cage, neither did he see their lips starting to move, murmuring some silent incantation… He just wished he could free his parents, but Norbert was ruling over his actions… _or was he_? Daniel heard an angry yell and opened his eyes. He barely could believe what he saw.

The shackles disappeared from Harry and Ginny's wrists and ankles in front of his very eyes. Norbert jerked his wand in front of himself to shout the killing curse, but he could only say _Avada _before Harry changed into a reindeer and lunged at him. 

How? Daniel gaped.

He saw his mother use the temporary upheaval and duck for her fallen wand, then his gaze shifted to Dumbledore, Snape and Cho Chang who were still in the confines of the cage, wandless, their faces radiating triumph.

That was when he understood it: he had been freed. He was no more under Voldemort's control, his thoughts and will were his own again… he was very exhausted, but perhaps he could do some more Imagining… he knew he had to, no matter what. He concentrated on three wands lying in the farthest corner of the chamber, making them whoosh back into their owners' hands. Albus Dumbledore clutched his own and flicked it, making the cage vanish.

Dan saw his mother push Lily behind a bookshelf and shout 'Stay there!' to her.

At the same moment Voldemort swished his wand, making a huge and heavy tome zoom down on the reindeer. The second of pain was enough to distract Harry and enough for Norbert to duck behind a bookshelf. Before Harry could make another step, the bookshelf swayed, as if being pushed from the other side. It probably couldn't have been stopped by magic. Not that Daniel hadn't tried… but his energy-reserves had been exhausted. Maybe he couldn't even have killed anyone, he was so tired. Tired, and slow in acting… the world went black in front of him and he collapsed onto the ground.

"Harry!" Cho screamed and lurched forward without thinking, pushing the animagus aside a split-second before the shelf came crashing down on him. She wasn't as fortunate as he was and got buried under the massive, millennium-old oak construction.

"Chooooooo!" Professor Potter shouted, turning back into his human form. Desperately he dashed towards the woman whose body had disappeared from neck down under the shelf, but before he could crouch down to her, a jet of magic crossed the air – Snape had sent it into the way of Norbert's streak directed at Harry from the other side of the fallen bookshelf. The curses hit each other and exploded in mid-way between Harry and the boy. 

Norbert might have been witty, talented and swift, but against three enemies not even he could prove good enough. He sent another curse towards Harry that got neutralised by a silver jet from Ginny's wand. In the same second as Ginny ejected her counter-curse, Albus shouted _Expelliarmus_. The wand flew out of the hand of the cornered and outnumbered Voldemort. Had Daniel still been under his control, he would have stood a chance to fight back, but with no wand, two wizards and a very angry witch pointing their wands at him, he could do nothing. He was defeated.

"You bastard!" Harry roared, jumping over the fallen bookshelf, changing back into his animagus form during the jump and landed on the other side of the shelf on his four hooves, pinning Norbert to the wall with his antlers. 

The boy was gasping for breath, barely able to believe that his genius plan had failed. Dumbledore, Snape and that Asian chick had somehow freed Daniel from his control and Daniel had imagine-freed his parents and also given the others their wands back… He hadn't even managed to kill Potter, not by the Killing Curse, not even by toppling that shelf over… how could they find the counter-spell when he had stolen that page? His mind raced, trying to find a way out, but it seemed that there wasn't one. He was trapped, a reindeer keeping him at bay, he couldn't move…

Beads of sweat coursed down the sides of his face as he looked into the animal's eyes… those eyes were blazing with anger and hatred. Even as a reindeer, Harry's emotions clearly showed on his face, making Norbert tremble even more. His hands were groping for something on the wall – for anything he could use…

"You… you wouldn't kill me?" he gulped. "You can't… I'm… I'm… your son…"

"You are NO son of mine!" changing back into a man, Harry hissed, feeling strong enough to strangle this boy with his own hands. Perhaps he shouldn't have changed back, because as soon as Norbert was out of the antlers' captivity, he ripped a nearby torch off the wall, swung it at Harry and jumped behind the neighbouring bookshelf. 

Dumbledore, Snape and Ginny's stunners hit the wall where Norbert's head had been a millisecond earlier. 

"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Voldemort," Harry growled the very same words the Dark Lord had told him back in the cemetery so many years ago. 

"Come out and you'll live, you'll get into Azkaban… but you'll live," Dumbledore added. "Hide, and you'll die on the very spot you stand."

"Oh, is that so?" Norbert's mocking voice spoke up, and in the next second he pushed Lily out from behind the shelf, his left arm around her midsection, pointing Lily's very own wand at her throat with his right hand. Just like in Muggle crime stories. "If you want to kill me, either with _Avada Kedavra_ or anything else, say a nice explosion curse, you'll have to kill my hostage first. Any curse can reach my body in one way: through her."

Ginny gasped.

"You can choose. Kill us both, or drop your wands," Voldemort demanded, giving the headmaster a meaningful look.

"Do what he says," Albus said calmly and threw his wand aside. Snape and Ginny followed.

"Good," Norbert smirked. "Now lil Lily and I leave, if you don't mind. Don't come forward. Don't move or she dies," he said, stepping sideways, hauling the girl with himself.

"Do something!" Lily breathed at the bunch of helpless wizards, and someone DID something. An _Avada Kedavra_ tore at the air, and she felt the grip on her body loosen… the wand pointed at her throat fell to the floor with a loud clatter, followed by an even louder thump.

Slowly she turned around and saw Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort the second, lying on the ground, lifeless.

In the next second a figure appeared out of nowhere, disentangling himself from an Invisibility Cloak.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind me borrowing this, Potter," Draco said, giving a smirk to the appalled Harry.

"M…Malfoy?" 

"Yeah, Potty. I was the back-up plan. Dumbledore told me only to act in the last second, and I did so," the banker shrugged. "Aren't you at least a bit happy to see me?"

But Harry didn't answer. Couldn't answer. 

He was way too confused. 

It was all over. Voldemort was dead, and now he'd stay dead until the end of times… no power on Earth would be able to bring him back again. He was dead, but…

Harry dashed to the fallen bookshelf. Ginny joined him and muttered an incantation to slightly lift the shelf so that he could pull the woman out from under it.

Cho was unconscious and very pale. She seemed alive, but barely. Ginny conjured two stretchers. Harry lifted Cho onto one then helped Ginny place Daniel onto the other. As Daniel's stretcher floated out of the chamber accompanied by Ginny, Cho opened her eyes.

"Harry…" she whispered.

"You'll be all right," he replied. "Madame Pomfrey will put you all right."

"No," she replied. "I know she won't."

"Why wouldn't she? She can mend all sorts of injuries," he reasoned, feeling his heart clench. He knew he was just raving, and Cho's injuries were too serious for the nurse or any mediwizard at St. Mungo's to heal. 

"You're a pathetic liar, Harry," she smiled sadly. Harry took her hand and squeezed it gently, though he wasn't sure whether she had felt it – she had her backbone broken, thus her whole body was numb from neck down. She wasn't feeling his touch, still she knew that he had taken her hand. A tear coursed down her cheek. "Take care of my daughter, Harry. Please."

"I will, Cho," he nodded, fighting back his own tears. "Until you get all right."

"You know… you know that I won't… get all right," her voice faltered. "Promise… promise me, Harry."

"I promise, Cho."

"Good…" a huge smile spread on her face. "My baby will… finally… have the big… happy family she has always dreamt of… thank you, Harry."

"Cho…" he breathed, not knowing what to say. What should one tell a dying person? Should he say _'it's me who has to say thanks… you saved my life, after all'_? He shook his head. There was no point in that… so he just bent down and kissed her on the forehead.

At this moment she looked happy. As happy as Harry hadn't seen her ever since before Cedric's death. Her face radiated some unearthly happiness and her eyes widened, as if it wasn't the ceiling she was looking at, but something far beyond it… "Cedric…" she whispered. "He's waiting… for me. I'm coming…" with a happy sigh, she breathed her last.

**A/N:** sorry 'bout the lame action scene again, I've always sucked at writing action, but this chapter simply needed some.

I'm sure that 99% of you don't remember that part with Lucius hearing a mysterious voice saying '_tell them Lucius_' and dropping his glass in surprise, but you can check back at chapter 28 of TGSaWCS, it was all there. Also later in chapter 33 Voldie said '_This is necessary weakness, Lucius'._

I'm also sure that none of you found it suspicious in chapter 39 of TGSaWCS when Harry and Neville clashed heads and Harry's forehead ached pretty much afterwards, but you can check back, it was there, too. Everything was thoroughly planned out :) 

I must admit that originally I didn't want to write a sequel to TGSaWCS. When I was around the half of writing that one, I told my mum that I had a very perverted idea for a fic: Harry sleeps with Fleur (yes, one of my guilty ships is Harry/any Veela), she gets pregnant and gives birth without Harry knowing. And Voldemort is reborn in that child. I also told mum that however much I liked this idea, it was pretty unlikely that I would ever write it. Then she said: _it's too good an idea to waste, you could build it into your existing plot as a third fic: make Tatyana get pregnant_ (originally I didn't want her to get pregnant) _and make Voldie be reborn in that child. And the third part of your trilogy could revolve around this._ I replied: 'mum, you're a genius!' So, that's how this story was born, without my mum I would never have written it. Thanks, mum, you're great!

_Bucky:_ the poor little acromantulas remain hungry, but I hope you're still satisfied ;) I must admit that when I wrote Cho into the story I did it in order to kill her. Yes, that was the only reason for me putting her into the fic: to kill her. However, when I typed this scene at the end, I was bawling like a baby… *sniff, sniff, pooooor Cho* Voldie-football? How hilarious an image is that? :))) Sorry, you won't be able to read about the Snape twins, since they won't be born in the fic.

_rebkos_: well, Dannie fought it – Agi slaps Dannie at the back, well done, Dan! :)

_Wood's secret lover:_ well, Tatyana wasn't dead when everyone suspected her to be dead. Yes, in my fic Devilmoor is really Narcissa's maiden name, and it wasn't Lucius who made it up, but AgiVega ;) 

_L-chan_: I hope I didn't scar you mentally this time.

_C-chan:_ no, Lucius is very much alive. I'm currently reading the Amber spyglass, but I'm not a fan of this series, it's way too Anti-Christian for my taste. I'm going to read it to its end, but I'll never like it. There's another series written by Philip Pullman that I like much more: the Sally Lockhart series (yay, a Lockhart! Hurray for all the Lockharts!!!) I'm glad you read back to TGSaWCS, searching for evidence, and you were right, it was all along Voldemort talking to Lucius. Hehe, I love confusing the poor reader, and I was sure that no one understood those parts in TGSaWCS :)

_Lady Schezar_: no, I'm not joking. And yes, it does stink, but it's the truth. It's a bit like _Darth Vader: "I am your father." Luke: "Nooooo!" Darth Vader: "search your feelings, you know it to be true" _;)__

_sabby:_ yes, I also felt sorry for poor Lily, but I felt much more sorry for poor Harry… being the father of Voldemort can't be a pleasant thought to live with.

_Tap Dancing Widow_: yes, Draco's a good boy :)

_Phoniex_Kiss02:_ yes, I know that I'm evil :D

_weirdo_withouth_a_clue_: even though killing off Beryl wouldn't be mean in your opinion, I'm NOT going to kill her off! I killed off Cho, be satisfied with it. In this chapter I explained how Voldie could be reborn, I believe.

_Beauty in Disguise_: hehehe, I was grinning madly when reading your review… I love to shock people!

_Altec_: no, Philippe was only needed to make Beryl flee to Hogwarts and fall for Snape. Nothing else. I don't know what you mean by 'anti-climatic', but Norbert was sort of a new character, wasn't he? A nice, 'innocent' little boy, Daniel's best friend in the world… I must admit that I liked writing Norbert the most throughout this fic, it was fun to write someone behaving so nicely while I knew all along that he did nothing out of pure goodness. And I believe that no one noticed it, but while I let the reader glimpse into all important characters' souls, showing their feelings, their inner struggle, etc, I NEVER wrote about Norbert's feelings… strange that no one noticed it that he was always observed from 'outside', and I never wrote '…_and Norbert thought that this was good/bad…'_ I think he WAS a new character, and a peculiar one for the reason I described above. He has been my favourite creation so far (pity I had to kill him off *Agi wipes a tear and puts a bouquet on Norb's grave*). Well, no, Lucius never buried Tatyana, just lied that he head buried her. 

_MidniteSunrise_: bad Harry????? NO! Bad Tatyana, bad Lucius and bad, bad, bad Voldemort! Harry was INNOCENT!

_MissEwe:_ Tatyana didn't need to be taken out of her grave, because she was never buried, Lucius just set up a fake grave. Norbert didn't want to kill Dan, because he needed Dan's Imaginer powers. 

_CloverWeave_: yup, you were right! :)

_xaebhal:_ I think I have done so many not-obvious things that I could afford to do something as obvious as Tatyana being the mother.

_Houou_: *Agi pats your face* wake up, don't faint on me!

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: I hope everything fit.

_King Jasbon_: yeah… he kissed his sister. But what can you expect from Voldemort? Honestly… someone like him would think that incest is fun.

_jennaration_: well, it seems that your feelings were right when you read the parchment-book-part. Sometimes I can also 'feel' things beforehand and tell the authors that I know what they'll be doing:)

_LadySiri:_ I'm glad you only hate my cliffies and not me :D

_Desiree: _playing the flute must be great. I can only play the piano, but not too well.

_K.C. Hunter:_ even I can use clichés, can't I? But I'm glad you didn't think the Narcissa-stuff was that much of a cliché, after all.

_seashell:_ don't feel so sorry for poooor evil Norbert! Yes, I also found it a bit funny, the opposite of the Darth/Luke situation :)

_BigDaddy753_: I hope you no more feel like killing me :) Did you get my mail with the fic recommendations?

_Dark Child Productions_:  I love your name… somehow makes me think of Norbert, the Dark Child of Harry.

_maureen_: wait till the next chapter, and you'll see what's up with the Sorting Hat. According to a book on baby-names Ivo does mean yew. Why did the book say Devilsmoor-Malfoy as Norb's last name? Because the book always registers people with the name they are going to grow up with. Remember, the book registered Lily as Lily Potter, not as Lily Weasley, although Ginny and Harry hadn't been married when she was born. Why did Norb leave the book in the chamber for Dan to find? Because he wanted Dan to use it and get more and more powerful, so he could use an even more powerful Imaginer. Bravo, you're the only one who properly guessed the story of Tatyana and Lucius, all the other readers thought that she had died and Lucius had dug her up and put the fetus into some incubator, LOL. There, I killed off Cho, are you happy now? Who is this Belgarion and the others you mentioned? Fanfic writhers?

_Toby Haine_: you made me giggle again, Toby, when you described yourself gaping at the screen of your computer ;) Well, you, as many others, thought that Tatyana had been dug up, but only Maureen (right about you) managed to guess that she had never even been buried at Asgard, Lucius just set up a fake grave and took her with himself, since he knew that she was expecting Harry's baby. Well, this chapter didn't have a cliffie, did it? And yes, the fic will end with a very humorous line, I promise :) Er… you weren't the first reviewer, you were about the 25th, but ffnet didn't show the other reviews yet (it shows them after several hours, dunno why). Thanks for the loooong review :D

_Aya Sharp_: Harry and Tatyana didn't SNOG for three times, they shagged, not snogged – big difference!

_Dragon Claw_: I hurried :)

_aprenticeofdobby_: you wrote: '_Just when we all think we are omnicent about the whole story, you depose us from our knowledge' –_ and I found this really funny, great assessment.

_Katrina:_ thanks for the two Hungarian Horntails you sent me, they have made friends with my own dragon and they are currently playing volleyball in my back garden (but unfortunately they tend to set the ball to fire by accident, so I have to replace it every ten minutes). Yes, of course the voice in TGSaWCS was Voldie… funny that no one ever thought of this.

_Black Ice_: for me Lily wasn't a normal teenager, but perhaps only because I compared her to myself, and I was never the yelling, tantrum throwing teenager, but a very peaceful one. I think I'll start a new long fic, but only after having read OotP. I have an idea for a fic, I've had it for more than a year, but first I need to see what happens in OotP and adjust my story-idea to it. So, don't expect any stories from me till around September/October.

_figgiesblazin:_ oh my God, yes, Tat and Harry ;)

_Punky Poet:_ what? You phoned your friend to rave about chapter 28? Hehe, funny… it must have annoyed her a lot.

_MauiGoddess3_: not really a massacre, but two dead people are enough, aren't they? I hope so. Yes, I hinted at Norbert's looks and stuff, yet only Bucky told me (twice) that she thought Norb might be Harry's son, no one else thought of this.

_Princess Ginny_: ah, don't bother with the names email, it's stupid, really, I just felt like forwarding it, but when I got it back, I didn't bother to send it again.

_Rab:_ I have never drawn a house-elf, and I don't even feel like drawing one. It must be cute, but I don't feel inspired to draw it. And I'm not even sure I'd be capable of drawing one. Well, now you know that Tatyana hadn't died when everyone thought she had.

_PhoenixFire_: now you know how.

_2Coolio:_ can't any faster.

_goldenstar555_: I didn't want to end chapter 28 with not telling who the father was, I thought that this way it was much more cruel than with leaving it with a cliffie.

_maggie_: nevil author is back, hope my fingers were quick enough.

_Ides of March_: I hope you managed to stop hyperventilating and you're feeling okay again :)

_Inigma_: really? Do I make some of your old fave fics look like crap? Hm… that's funny. You know, the fics that I loved years ago never seem to get 'crappy', just because I've read better ones since then. I still love my old favourites. Draco and Gabie get together in the next chapter :) I haven't seen X man at all, not even the first episode. Do tell me about your performance when it's over, okay?

_Alexander Phoenix_: I hope this was soon enough.

_VegaKeep:_ Raistlin Majere? You mean Raistlin from DragonLance? I have only read the first book so far, but I'm going to read the second too. But somehow I don't find Raistlin that much of a 'kick-ass-character', he's rather boring. I like Caramon and Tasslehoff much more.

_colei:_ are you also posting on phoenixtears? What is your artist name there?

_apple-pie:_ I'm glad you think that chapter 28 ended with an ever greater surprise than chapter 27, because that's why I thought, too :)

_Zenon Lee:_ sorry, but I didn't want to include Lucius as well, but you got a bit of Dumbledore fighting (thought it wasn't that spectacular, I suck at action-writing).

_Merlin:_ thanks, I'm glad I could surprise you.

_ArgiCallista_: *Agi fanning ArgiCallista with a newspaper, hoping to make her come around* McRice sells meals made mostly of rice, that's obvious, isn't it?

_Inken:_ yes, I know I have deceived you and I'm apologizing for that, but I couldn't spill the beans any earlier. Lucius decided to adopt Norbiekins because he's a freak and loves to serve his crazy master. Voldie's evil spirit couldn't have left Norb's body, because Norbert had only one sprit living in him: Voldemort's. Had Voldie's spirit left his body, then he would have been like someone kissed by a Dementor: soulless, like an empty shell. It was better for him to die.

_Lioness-07863_: yes, Lucius was just covering up. 

_X-Tow-Naga_: this chapter was long enough, wasn't it? Well, now you know that Tatyana hadn't died when everyone thought her to be dead. Was Harry slow? Hm… I thought he had to ask back to keep up the 'conversation'. Why didn't Norb kill Dan outright? Because he wanted it to seem like an accident, and falling into a well would have looked like an accident. Norbert isn't really Draco's half-brother, but Draco had been fed the tale that Norb was his father's illegitimate son, so Lucius deceived Draco into believing that Norb was his half-brother. Yes, Voldie is sometimes really idiotic, but if he hadn't told his plans, then the reader wouldn't know what had happened, so he NEEDED to tell everything. I NEVER said that Norbert looked like a Malfoy. On the contrary, in chapter 5, the following was written: "_This was the first time Harry thoroughly inspected him. This was the boy whom he had helped on King's Cross to get on the train. The boy who stared at his scar then left without saying thanks. Harry frowned. This boy didn't look much like a Malfoy – with the exception of his eyes, that were unmistakably Malfoy-ish: cold grey, just like Lucius' and Draco's. But then again, Harry had heard that the Malfoys had vampire ancestors as well – so no wonder that this boy had such dark hair." _Norbert got to know about Gryffindor's chamber from Daniel, and after they had first visited it, he decided to go down there and look around on his own. And he found the book and ripped the page out (Dan only discovered the book when he visited the chamber for the second time, and didn't know that Norbert had been there between their two visits to the chamber). About your comments for GwG3: no idea how mute wizards cast spells *shrugs* I don't think that Aberforth would be perverse enough to make his brother live together with a goat, so that's why he turned Amelia back.  

_Shazzman:_ you wrote: "_I thought the crazy Russian chick was just trying to get her lover back...unless Voldie saw all this from hell and thought "HEY! Here's a way to get back to the land of the living!" Now I'm just speculating_". Well, you speculated right :) What? Does Norbert in my art look like he's going to spit nails? No, it wasn't deliberate. On the contrary, I was sort of surprised to see that I had drawn an innocent-looking, cute Norbie. But funnily, the other Norbert I have drawn (mentioned in A/N on top) also looks cute and totally innocent… somehow I cannot draw evil-looking Norberts! :) In fact I didn't research Ivo's name, I found it by accident. There was an Argentine soap-opera in the Hungarian TV, and the male main-character was called Ivo. And once I was looking at a book about names, and I spotted the name Ivo, gut curious (because I loved that soap-opera), and when I saw what its meaning was, I decided to put it into my fic. Yes, you have totally misread Lucius's intentions. And to tell you the truth, I could easily imagine a good-turned Draco, but NEVER a good-turned Lucius. You asked: _"And how did he control Narcissa with Imperio when he was gibbering insanely away in St. Mungo's_?" Well, that's easy. He was insane from chapter 16 till chapter 34 of TGSiHH, but he only started to control his wife with Imperio after chapter 28 of TGSaWCS. Well, read the A/N at the end of this fic, and you'll see how deliberately I put things into TGSaWCS already :)

_Kit Cloudkicker_: well, of course Lucius is sick, he's always been sick.

_Sean Mulligan_: Krum's sister? She NEVER managed to get Harry sleep with her, and she was quite annoyed that she hadn't succeeded. But Tatyana did, three times.

_Indigo Ziona_: yes, cuteness does have a blinding-effect, doesn't it? ;)

_Lupin's Angel:_ what is a thinking cap like? Never heard of such a thing (besides the Sorting Hat).

_Mistri_: you Harry, not you Ginny. They were talking about the identity of the FATHER, after all, and Ginny couldn't have been the father :)

_Myr Halcyon:_ no, I didn't want to name this chapter Vision of the Future, because there was no vision in it ;)

_Elfangor19_: you don't know what you'd do without my stories? Oh… that's touching, thanks :) But you'll have to do without them through the summer – but then you'll have OotP, so you won't even miss my fics.

_Lavendar Brown_: luscisous? LOL, I love the way people keep misspelling his name ;)

_The Millenium One_: you got it right :)

_thecrazygirl:_ I can assure you a happy ending. No, there won't be a sequel, but after reading OotP I'll surely write a new fic.

_Red Ridding Hood_: do you think it must be utterly disgusting for Voldemort to be Harry's son? I think it's much more disgusting for Harry to be Voldemort's father!

_Kristen Michelle_: after reading OotP I'll try to think of a new story (I have vague ideas of one, but I'm not sure whether I'd write it or not). But I'm 99% sure that I'll be writing a new fic during the summer, so watch out for it in September/October!

_Nefertiri:_ Lucius looking like a drowned rat? LOL. In fact I think he looked great in CoS, I'm even contemplating to choose the Lucius avatar on FictionAlley, it looks great :) 

_candycaneOgram_: Norbert isn't just using Voldie's name to scare people, he's really Voldie reborn (well, he WAS Voldie reborn, may he rest in peace *Agi throws a bouquet of roses on Norbie's grave*). And now you must know how he could get into the chamber… Gryffindor blood of course. It must have been bad for you to hear your friend's taunting that she already knew what had happened, LOL. You wrote: '_fanfic will not be the same without you!'_ You know, I found this really touching :) But don't worry, I intend to write a new fic after I read OotP, I'll try and start posting it in September/October, so look out for it!

'_mione we@sley:_ hehe, I think no one saw that coming :)

_Katie Bell:_ yes, Ginny knew about Harry/Tatyana, she was even mad at Harry, because she thought he had cheated on her, and that was when she told Malfoy to sleep with her (which Malfoy refused). Then Ginny got to know that Harry had been bewitched by Tatyana and it wasn't his fault.

_Eclectus_: I love foreshadowing things :)

_Angela:_ you only read my summaries of the first two fics? Didn't you read TGSiHH and TGSaWCS? That's weird…

_Kitch:_ Norb wasn't teary-eyes when he first saw Harry, he was just in a hurry to reach the train and was quite tired, but there were no tears in his eyes, were there?

_Kamatazi Yumi_: I'm glad you like Lea, I like her too (I named her after my mum, after all ;)

_Makayla P_.: never seen Treasure Planet, though I like the Disney movies. I don't know why I didn't go and watch this one *shrugs*

_Falcon541_: thanks, I will :)

_Wizzabee_: perhaps now you can guess how Dan's wish will come into the fic, but if not, then the next two chapters will reveal it.

_kickedoutofthegoblet_: hehe, I'm glad you like my SW references, I love them, too, Han/Leia's bickering provided so many great quotes I could use!

_Laura:_ I'd never make Lucius turn good, he's perfect being the evil bastard he currently is :)

_Romina_: read my second A/N and you'll get to know how much I had planned the plot of the third fic when writing the second. No, Tatyana had no idea that she was going to give birth to Voldie. She didn't even want to give birth to him, and I'm sure that if she had had the chance, she would have got rid of the unborn child, but of course Lucius had taken her wand and kept her in prison and under control.

_RedHots721_: yes.

_Chrissi:_ got my mail?

_twinkle-toes_: I think I have explained how Voldie could get reborn despite having killed so many people.

_sikokid_: see, you were right :)

_heavenly182angel:_ no, the sword didn't really have a role.

_Sky_: I'm sorry about your dad, it must have been hard for you :( Send my fics to Rowling? LOL. I don't even know her address :)

_PadfootOldBuddyOldPal:_ I update once a week, and no, this fic doesn't have a sequel. But I promise you to write another, long one during the summer, after I've read OotP and got some new ideas. Watch out for it in autumn. So, your faves are Imogen's and my fics? Hm… weird. Her style is so very different from mine. She has more refined style (because she writes in her native language while I don't), but many people have told me that my plot twists were more interesting than hers. *shrugs* I really couldn't compare the two series, they're as different as night and day, the only similarity is that Imogen and I both ship H/G.

_SparkleCharm_: hello? Ginny having that ugly stupid retarded dumbass baby? No waaaay! Ginny would surely know if she had given birth to Norbert, wouldn't she? And you know, Norbert isn't ugly at all, he takes after his dad, and Harry is really handsome! Neither is he retarded, he's clever and everything – I mean he WAS clever, now he's dead *sniff, sniff*


	30. All's well that ends well

**A/N**: sorry for not having updated so long, but I had two bloody exams and two bloody presentations in the last few days I had to prepare for. Also, I'll have some other stupid exams in the next one month, please, wish me _May the Force be with you_! Thanks.

Although the title contains the word 'ends', the story has one more chapter, so it's not over yet. I could have written only 30 chapters, but if I had put the text of chapter 31 into this chapter, then it would have been way too long, and I sort of wanted to write an epilogue as short as the prologue, because I have never before done so :)

Look what my brilliant friend Indigo Ziona wrote (I'm sure she wouldn't mind that I quote her):

**Norbert:** *deep breathing* Lucius never told you what happened to Tatyana...  
**Harry:** He told me enough. He told me he buried her.  
**Norbert**: I.... am your son!!  
**Harry:** Nooooo!  
**Norbert:** Search your heart... you know it to be true...  
  
**Norbert**: All my family has Gryffindor blood. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it.  
**Lily**: Oh...  
**Norbert:** Yes Lily, you are my sister!  
**Lily:** Pervert!  
  


**Chapter 30**

**All's well that ends well**

_I'll lean on you and_

_you lean on me and_

_we'll be okay_

_/Dave Matthews/_

__

Two days had passed since those fateful events in Gryffindor's chamber had taken place. The news that Voldemort had returned and got killed again travelled like a wildfire through the school, Hogsmeade and even Rhea Skeeter had a field day with it. Still, parts of the real events had been hushed up. People knew that Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy had been the reborn Dark Lord, and Lucius got a life sentence at Azkaban the very night Norbert had been killed. People also got to know that Draco Malfoy had had no idea about his little 'brother's' real identity, and that Narcissa Malfoy had been under _Imperius_ for twelve whole years. 

However, no one except those present in the chamber knew Norbert's real parentage. Albus Dumbledore had asked everyone to keep silent about it – it was hard enough for Harry even without people talking about it. 

Harry really seemed crushed. From a certain point of view, Voldemort had managed to accomplish a part of his plan: breaking Harry's soul. But he hadn't done it by killing Ginny's unborn child, not even by setting fire to the Potter house and causing Hedwig's death, not even by turning Lily against her father – no, he had managed it by uttering that single word of three letters: 'you'. 

_You, you, you_, it kept echoing in Harry's mind, _you are my father_!

Harry just couldn't believe it… but he knew it was the truth. He knew he wasn't faulty in it, but it still kept eating at him, making him accuse himself… especially since Cho was dead. Her death had been Voldemort's fault, but Harry was still blaming himself. Cho had died saving his life, after all. 

He had felt bitter many times before, but never like this. This feeling strongly reminded him of that one he had felt after the third task and Cedric's death… in both cases, he had been blaming himself. In both cases he had been made aware that he had contributed to the Dark Lord's return. Only that the first time, he had merely done so by – unintentionally – giving Voldemort some of his blood. This time he had done so by siring a monster… not giving blood, but his seed…

When Dumbledore had asked him where to bury Norbert's body, Harry had apathetically replied that he didn't care, that the body should be chucked into some pit because Voldemort didn't deserve a decent funeral.

However, Albus had replied with the following words: "We are talking about the body, Harry. It was the soul that was evil, not the body. We could put it this way: the body was _your son_. The soul was _Voldemort_."

Harry had just nodded, feeling very empty. Dumbledore was right. The boy he had fathered was innocent; he had only become evil when Voldemort's soul had taken possession of his body after the birth. As long as the child had been in his mother's belly, he had been unspoilt. Harry wondered what would have become of the boy if he had been born as someone else, with another soul, not Voldemort's… if he had been raised by his mother… would Tatyana have been a good mother? Would the boy have become a decent person?

That was something he'd never have a chance to know. 

Norbert was buried the day after the chamber-day, with no one but Harry and Albus present. They didn't put a headstone over the tomb, didn't make a cross of wood, didn't put any sign onto it. In the shadow of an old pine tree on the edge of the Forbidden Forest stood a small mound overgrown with grass, and it would stand there until the end of times, with no one ever knowing what was beneath it…

Now, one day after his son's funeral, Harry had to take part in another one – Cho's. The sky was overcast, and it started to rain, as if the clouds were lamenting too, showering the ground with their tears.   

Just a few people were present – those who had witnessed Cho's heroism in the chamber (with the exception of the still unconscious Daniel), and Liu. 

Harry stole a glance at the little girl who was weeping by her mother's grave. Ginny put an arm around her and she melted into her embrace, crying into her shoulder. Harry felt a bit of relief seeing that Liu wasn't shunning Ginny. He was sure that his wife would do everything to help Liu feel comfortable with the Potters – to make her feel that she was loved and cared for.

For one fleeing moment his glance met that of Cho's daughter, but she looked away. He couldn't blame her at all. She had lost her mother and was aware that Cho had died saving Harry. 

Harry knew that Ginny would easily make the girl like her, and probably the Potter children as well, but he wasn't sure whether Liu would ever like him after what had happened. He feared that he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to Cho – at least not the way she would have expected from him. But today wasn't the day to ponder what the future held, whether Liu Chang would ever forgive him or not… today was the day to mourn.

* * * * *

Draco was one of the first to leave the funeral. He had pulled his black robes tightly around himself to protect himself from the buffeting wind, but against the rain he couldn't do anything. Probably didn't even want to. 

The raindrops felt cool and refreshing on his skin and he didn't mind that his blond locks got plastered together with wetness. Strangely, he felt light. As light as a feather. Most people couldn't tell the same when coming home from a funeral, but Draco really felt that way. He felt that the downpour had cleansed his soul, washed away the remains of doubt and self-accusation that had been infecting his heart for years. 

He had always hated Norbert. He had never been able find out why, though. One was supposed to love his brother, even though it was just his half-brother… but now, at last, he knew that Norbert had never been a relation of his. He had been a relation of Harry's. 

The old Draco would very likely have felt malicious joy over Potter's misery, but he was no longer the old Draco. In fact, he hadn't been the old Draco for thirteen years… his love for Ginny had turned him into another, much nicer person, and even though he had tried to keep up his bad reputation, deep down he wasn't mean anymore.

He felt it was ironic what love was capable of… turning him into a better man… and now he wanted to be an even better person. For Gabrielle.

He hadn't even realised that he had reached his house until he was standing in front of the gate. He opened it, walked through the garden and entered the house.

To his surprise, the house wasn't as empty as he had left it. A friendly fire crackled in the fireplace of the living room, though Draco clearly remembered that he hadn't made a fire. His house-elf had a day off, it couldn't have been him, either. Then who?

Suddenly the armchair facing the fire creaked and a figure emerged from it.

"This is breaking and entering," Draco grunted. "I should report it to the Magical Law Enforcement."

"And what will you tell zem? Zat you 'ad found your wife in your 'ouse?" came a mocking reply.

"My wife?" he crossed his arms. "Come on, Gabrielle, you have never properly been my wife… neither the Magical Law Enforcement nor any kind of wizarding authority have any knowledge about our troth. You have also given me the ring back. Nothing proves you're my wife."

"You are right. Nothing does," she nodded. "But rest assured, I 'aven't come to rob you or anyzing… I just wanted to talk to you. To ask you what 'as really 'appened… I need to know, Drhaco."

He shrugged and walked closer. "Voldemort happened. You have been accusing me of being nasty to my little brother. Well, I must admit that I had pangs of remorse about not being able to love him as an older brother should love his younger brother, but I no longer have pangs of remorse. He was not my brother. He was Voldemort."

"But 'ow…? 'Ow could 'e 'ave been?" she asked, her huge blue eyes scanning his face in a nervous way.

"He was reborn in this body, Gabrielle. And my idiot of a father had taken on to raise him… he never told me who or what Norbert really was. My mother knew it, but couldn't tell anyone, since father was keeping her under _Imperius_… then two days ago, she finally managed to gather enough strength and break free from Malfoy Manor and come to Hogwarts. A great woman, my mother. I have never really respected her, but now I do. She deserves to be respected for having opposed my father, risking her life… I barely can believe that father compelled her to play mummy to the Dark Lord. It must have been terrible for her… every time she had to hug him, she knew whom she was hugging!" a disgusted expression spread on Draco's still dripping face. "I'll never forgive father for exposing mother to Voldemort… for letting Voldemort into the family!" he banged his fist hard onto a nearby table. "I'm happy that I could kill him."

"Kill 'im?" she whispered. She had only known that the Dark Lord had died, but she had had no idea who had done away with him. The newspapers had mentioned that Draco had killed his 'brother', but Gabrielle hadn't read the newspapers just heard people talking about the case. "You… you killed 'im? You killed… You-Know-Who?"

"Yes, Gabrielle, I did," he drew himself up. "He ruined my mother's life, he ruined the Potter's life… not that I should care for them, but… hell, I do. You have no idea what terrible things he did to them…"

"Zen tell me," she said.

"All right… firstly, he killed the Potters' baby."

"No…" Gabie breathed.

"Yes. He poisoned Ginny to make her miscarry. Then he set fire to the house."

"Wasn't… wasn't it done by ze goblins?"

"Goblins?" Draco laughed bitterly. "No. My dear little 'brother' had seen to it that people would think that it had been the goblins' doing, but it was him. He made me live in fear ever since New Year… he didn't only ruin the Potter's life, but mine as well. And yours, too."

"Mine?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Had he not done this little goblin-deception then I wouldn't have felt worried about getting killed and leaving no one to take care of the bank… and I wouldn't have married you."

"You zink… you zink zat ze marriage 'ad ruined my life?" she breathed.

"Why, hasn't it?"

"Now you tell me: it 'as!" she snapped. "'Ow much better it would 'ave been for me to ignore your pleas to marry you! I should 'ave left you in ze lurch, letting you take care of zat ruddy bank on your own! Oh, my foolish good 'eart, zat will be my undoing someday! You know what? I no mohre care for you! Go, leave me alone!"

"All right!" he shouted and headed for the door, where he suddenly stopped. "I'm not going anywhere. This is my house. You leave!"

"Oh, o' course I will!" her eyes sparkled with fury as she marched past him, out into the rain. For some seconds, he just watched her then suddenly he realised that if he let her exit through that gate now, he'd lose her forever. With a thought he flicked his wand towards the gate.

The girl pushed down the handle, but the gate refused to open. Angrily, she started looking for her wand in her drenched robes. When she finally found it and was just about to point it at the lock, she felt a hand grab her hand holding the wand.

"What?" she growled at him, trying to free her hand, but he was holding it in a vice-like grip.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Why not? I'm free to go anywhere I want! You cannot 'old me back!"

"But I can."

"No, you can't!"

"I bet I can."

"You can't 'old me back wiz anything!" she stamped her foot angrily, right into a puddle.

"I love you," he said very quietly.

"Now look at my shoes!" she huffed. "Zey're all muddy and… _what 'ave you said_?" she blinked, wiping a wet lock of white-blonde hair out of her face.

"I said I loved you. I love you, Gabrielle. I don't want to lose you," he reached out to cup her face.

"Oh, Drhaco, your 'and is so cold…" she whispered. "You're… you're soaked to ze skin!"

"So are you," he reminded her.

"Oh… really," she smiled.

"I think we might as well go in and get changed. What do you think?"

"Well… I'd like to drop zese wet zings for shure."

"Good. Then we can share body heat," he grinned.

"Oh, you phrat!" she playfully boxed into his chest.

"Why…? Wouldn't you like to become my wife… in all respects?"

She cocked her head, sizing up the heavily dripping Draco. He was so endearingly cute that way… "First give me zat rhing back, zen we might talk about it…"

"_Talk_?" he pouted. "I had more interesting things in mind."

"What sorts o' zings?" she squinted at him mischievously.

"Well, this, for instance…" with that he pulled her to himself and kissed her thoroughly. 

"Uh, even your lips are cold!" she pulled back, laughing.  

"You are right. We don't want to catch a cold, do we?" he winked at her, then, with a sudden motion he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder.

"'Ey, put me down zis instant!" she wailed, punching his back with her fists.

"No way, my lady," he replied, heading for the building with her. "A nice fire awaits us in there… along with a fluffy hearthrug…"

"You know… it didn't ruin my life," she whispered half an hour later, resting her head on his shoulder, gazing into the flames dancing in the fireplace.

"What?" he asked, absentmindedly stroking her bare shoulder.

"Ze marriage," Gabrielle replied. "It didn't ruin anything… on ze contrary."

"Oh, really?" he grinned, lowering his lips to catch her earlobe when the doorbell buzzed. "Who the hell could it be?" he growled, standing up, fastening a warm blanket around his naked body and padded to the door. "Potter," he wrinkled his nose.

"I'll be right back," Gabrielle said, picking up her scattered clothes and heading for the neighbouring room. Draco was a bit relieved to see her leave the living room – Potter didn't need to see her here, wearing nothing but a blanket, now, did he?

Young Malfoy let his visitor in, who was just as drenched as he had been.

"I hope I don't disturb," Harry said.

Draco felt a great temptation to say 'you always disturb, Potter', but knowing what had happened to Harry recently, he held himself back. 

"'Course not. I hope you don't mind me welcoming you in a blanket," Draco said. "You seem to be in need of a drying charm, you know."

"Oh, yeah," Harry said and performed the charm on himself, then took place on a sofa. "So… the reason of me coming here is…"

"Let me guess: Norbert?"

"Well, yes," Professor Potter nodded.

"Listen, Potter," Draco said before Harry could start his monologue, "I know I probably shouldn't have…"

"Shouldn't have what?"

"Killed him… I know I could have just stunned him from behind, but hell, I was mad at him! He did so many terrible things to your family, to _my_ family, and he was even going on about punishing me in the future… when he started dragging your daughter out of the chamber, I just snapped and I had to act. I had to do it… kill him."

"I'm glad you did," came an answer as silent as a whisper.

Malfoy looked up, staring at the other man incredulously. 

"I'm glad you did," Harry repeated. "Otherwise _I _would have had to kill him… I helped him come back, I should have been the one to do away with him… but I'm not sure I would have been capable…" he took a deep breath and stared into the flames. "Probably I wouldn't have been able to… he was… he was…"

"Your son."

"Yeah," Harry hung his head. "I'm grateful to you, Malfoy. You saved my daughter and you saved all of us."

"It isn't me whom you should thank… it was Dumbledore's idea to borrow your cloak from your study and go to the chamber without Norbert knowing… he deserves the credit."

A sad little smile appeared on Harry's lips. "The Draco I knew wouldn't be talking like this… giving the credit to someone else… what happened to you?"

"What?" the banker was taken aback by the question. "Well… I suppose I have just grown up."

"Grown up?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Trimming your neighbour's bushes just to annoy him isn't my idea of grown-up behaviour…"

"Oh, come off it, Potty!" Malfoy waved. "That was a long time ago. A lot happened since then…"

"Uh, Drhaco?" a voice spoke up.

Both men looked in the direction of the door that opened into the adjacent room.

"Ah, 'ello, 'Arry," Gabrielle, standing in the doorframe smiled, turning slightly pink.

"Hello, Gabie. What are you doing here?" the unsuspecting Charms professor asked.

"Well… I'm sort o'…"

"She's at home here," Draco replied without thinking, wearing a rather strange expression… Harry couldn't recall when he had seen Malfoy wearing a similar expression, but he was sure he had seen him that way before.

At Draco's comment the girl blushed even more. "I just wanted to ask whezzer you two wanted some 'ot chocolate or tea."

"Oh, you already find your way around my kitchen?" the lord of the house smiled. 

"I do," she shrugged. "It's not 'ard at all. A really tidy kitchen, zis is."

"I'm glad you like it," Draco replied, seemingly having forgotten about his guest… that was when it struck Harry: he had seen Draco look the same way at Ginny years and years earlier.

"Well, thank you, Gabie, but I cannot stay for tea," he stood up. "I have to go. Thanks for the talk, Malfoy. Now I do understand what has changed in your life," he added with a knowing look and headed for the door.

* * * * *

It was later that afternoon when Daniel finally woke up. The shock and the over-use of his powers had exhausted him so much that he had been out cold for two days.

The last time he had been in the infirmary it had been Snape whom he had spotted first when waking up. There was someone sitting by his bed this time, too, but seeing this person made him feel much happier than he had been when seeing Snape.

"Hi, sleepy-head," Gilda whispered with a small smile. "Had a nice rest, I hope."

"I s'pose so," he whispered back. "What are you doing here?"

"Sitting and talking to you," she replied.

"No, I meant… how long have you been here?"

"Just a few hours. I came in when your mother left."

"My… mother?" Dan breathed, sitting bolt upright. "Is she alive? And dad?"

"Calm down, Dan, they are all right."

"Oh, thank goodness," the boy sighed. "And… _Norbert?"_

"Well…" Gilda looked away. "He's dead."

"Oh," Dan said. "I think he deserved it… after all he did… I still can't believe that he has been lying to us all along… he was such a great friend! I liked him so much…" his voice faltered. "No… I think I loved him… as a brother."

She reached out to squeeze his hand. "But he wasn't your brother, Dan."

"You're mistaken."

"What?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know?" the boy frowned. "What exactly do you know?"

"Well, what the newspapers wrote, of course… that Norbert was the reborn Dark Lord but he got killed by his own brother, Draco Malfoy…"

Daniel gasped. He had had no idea… he had passed out well before Draco dropped the Invisibility Cloak. He hadn't known that Draco had been there in the chamber at all.

"Allegedly he had accompanied the others to the chamber, wearing your dad's cloak and he killed Norbert when Norbert took Lily hostage," Gilda carried on.

"What?" the boy shouted. "He dared… do that to Lily? Oh, that bastard! I hate him so much! I hate the mere memory of him!" he punched his pillow angrily. "I can't believe I was related to this… this…"

"Related?" she cut in.

"Oh… you don't know. Of course you don't, my parents and Dumbledore wouldn't tell the press something like this… not even Snape would… but I think you deserve to know. Norbert was your close friend as well… and my brother."

"Your… _brother_?" Gilda gasped. "But he… he was Draco Malfoy's brother!… I don't understand this."

"Then I'll explain. Twelve years ago my dad met some mad chick in Durmstrang who bewitched him and forced him to… to…"

"To what?"

"To have sex with her," he said, feeling embarrassed. "Don't ask her reasons, for I don't know. I'll ask dad someday… the point is that that woman was believed to be dead, but she hadn't died. Lucius Malfoy had taken her to his manor and kept her there, because he knew that she was expecting a child from my father… after she gave birth, Lucius Malfoy killed her. The only way Voldemort could return was to be reborn in the body of his greatest enemy's child. His greatest enemy was my father, of course. So… Norbert was my half-brother," he sighed. "It's so hard, Gil… I truly loved him as my brother, when I had no idea that he was indeed my brother… I always felt some inexplicable tie between the two of us… I think it must have been the blood-tie. Gil, promise me not to tell anyone about this, not even your parents… if my parents didn't tell anyone, then they surely want it to remain a secret."

"I promise, Dan," she replied. "And I thank you for trusting me enough to tell me."

"Hey… that is what friendship is about, isn't it? Trusting each other," he replied.

"Yeah," she nodded, smiling. "Friendship," her smile somehow seemed sad, but Dan hadn't the slightest idea why. Certainly she must have been sad about losing a friend – or a supposed friend -, but… he didn't know that she was sad about his last words. The fact that he was still considering their relationship as a mere friendship…

"Hey," he broke the silence, trying to cheer her up somehow, "remember that question you had to answer?"

"Which question?"

"The one about meeting someone famous… you said you'd like to meet Voldemort. Have you realised that you have actually met him? You met him but didn't get to know why he had gone evil."

"No, I haven't thought of this like that," she shook her head. "But it's true. I have met him… I have befriended him… but I wish I hadn't."

Now it was his turn to reach out and squeeze her hand reassuringly. "Hey, it's okay. We're still here for each other."

"Yes. We're friends," she nodded, blinking back a tear.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why have you got rid of your long hair?"

"Well…" she turned slightly pink, "you got expelled, Dan, and I no more had anyone I wanted to… fancy me," she turned away to hide her flushed cheeks, but the boy sat up and cupped her chin, making her face him.

"I do fancy you, you know. Even without those long locks…"

"Really?" her huge blue eyes widened, both with surprise and happiness.

"Yeah… Want me to show you?"

"If you want to…" she shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and levelheaded, but her level-headedness dissolved into nothingness as he pulled her into a firm embrace and plastered his lips to hers.

They only parted when someone cleared their throat. 

"Our patient needs to rest, Miss Lockhart," Madame Pomfrey said with twinkling eyes, and Gilda hurried out with a complexion as red as the setting sun.

* * * * *

Kevin, David and the twins were appalled to get to know the truth about Norbert-Devilsmoor Malfoy. Lily had told them everything, including that the boy had been her half-brother but asked them not to tell anyone else. It was supposed to remain within the family. Her four cousins gave their word to keep the secret.

"And he still dated you? That disgusting bastard! He was your brother!" David Dursley was beside himself with anger. He had given up on Lily back in February _because_ he had seen her kissing Norbert. Fortunately he had managed to fall out of love with Lily and fall in love with Circe Diggory, but the news still peeved him.   

"Uh, Dave…" Viviane whispered, "I sort of remember a discussion between you and Val and me on Valentine's Day… you had quite different ideas about Lily dating a relative back then…"

David flushed and Lily turned to him with an intrigued expression. "Why? What kind of ideas did you have?"

"Oh, I've just spotted Circe! Got to go!" Dave blabbered and dashed away.

"What got into him?" Kevin frowned and the twins giggled madly.

"Lily!" someone spoke up behind the eldest Potter girl. She turned around to see Christopher Wood standing there with an unusually timid expression.

"Oh, Chris… hi," she smiled.

"Oh, Chris, hiiiiiiiiii." the twins imitated her.

"Uh, could we talk… privately?" 

"Well, of course," Lily nodded and let him lead her out of the hall.

"Ooooooh… I sense love in the air!" Val chuckled.

"You just don't talk about love, 'Miss-I-have-a-crush-on-Snape'!" her twin said.

"I don't have a crush on him!" Val stamped her foot.

* * * * *

The weather was wonderful. After the previous day's heavy rain the whole landscape seemed to be cleansed and the sky seemed to be washed and polished to be brilliantly blue.

Christopher Wood led Lily to the lake without saying a word.

"So?" she asked when he finally stopped.

"So… I have broken up with Yvette."

"Oh. Have you?" she said nonchalantly, though her heart was trying to jump out of her chest.

"Yeah. I have realised that she wasn't the one for me… she is pretty, that's true, even clever, but… she seems empty compared to you."

"Empty?" the girl knitted her eyebrows.

"Yes. She is cold like an ice-sculpture… beautiful but cold and I can't feel warmed up when I'm with her… but… but when I look at you… I do feel warm."

"Warm?" she blinked. "In other words, what does that mean?"

He took a deep breath. "You aren't going to make this easy for me, are you?"

"No," she grinned. "So, what were you about to say?"

"I… I'd be honoured if you considered becoming my girlfriend, Lil. I like you very much."

"Like me?"

"Well, yeah," he ran his hand through his hair as a sign of embarrassment. "I think I'm not… not exactly in love with you – yet. But I believe that I could fall in love with you if you gave me a chance to get to know you better."

"That was honest at least," she said. "Norbert has never been honest to me."

"Oh, Norbert!" he fumed. "You don't still love him, do you?"

Seeing the boy's desperate expression she let out a chuckle. "No, I don't. Though he did kiss well, you know… I suppose not many girls can say that they have been kissed by Lord Voldemort, now, can they?"

"No," Christopher grimaced, "I don't think so. But I seriously don't believe that he has been such a good kisser… I bet I'm better."

"Well," she shrugged, giving him an impish grin, "prove it to me."

* * * * *

Harry had Charms class with the first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, but Liu Chang was absent. He felt worried about her. She had lost her mother only three days earlier, after all… he decided to go and look for her and had a very good idea where he'd find her.

He crossed the park, heading for a bunch of trees not far from the Quidditch pitch. Under those trees stood a pretty white stone that shone in the bright sunlight and was visible from a great distance. That was where Cho was resting. Near the pitch, where she had always been so happy… and there was a lonely figure standing next to her grave.

The figure didn't turn around, not even when she heard Harry's footsteps.

"She is happy now," she said without looking at him.

"Excuse me?"

"She is happy. Mum is happy," Liu repeated. "She's in heaven with… with Cedric Diggory, right?"

Harry was taken aback. He had no idea that Cho had told her daughter about her onetime love… but of course, why wouldn't she have told her about Cedric? She had told Liu about Harry as well, so why not Cedric?

"Yes, I believe she's happy now," he said quietly, his gaze slipping to the epitaph:

_You are gone but have not left,_

_Didn't leave our hearts bereft,_

_You live in us, we still hear your laughter,_

_You'll be remembered forever after: _

_Your smile on your lovely face,_

_Your kind gestures and your grace,_

_Soaring up above the pitch,_

_In the fervour of Quidditch,_

_Joking, laughing, having fun,_

_Cho Chang, you're not really gone_

"Then it's okay, I s'pose," the girl said. "If she's happy, then I should be, too… right?" she slowly turned around and Harry saw tears glinting in her eyes. "But then… why am I not happy?"

Harry closed the distance between them and gathered her into his arms. To his great relief, she wasn't pushing him away.

"I'm a bad girl…" she sniffed. "Mummy's in heaven and very happy, and I still want her to be here, where she has never been so really happy… I'm selfish."

"No, sweetie, you aren't," he whispered, caressing her hair. "You just miss her… that's understandable. We all miss her… but as long as she lives in our hearts, as long as we remember her, she'll be among us… and we will always remember her as a wonderful, courageous woman…"

"She… she saved your life, didn't she?" Liu pulled back a bit and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. 

"Yes, dear," he replied. "She saved me… and died so that I could live. I want you to know that if I could turn back time and make this change, I'd do it… but it's not in my power to do so."

"You are… blaming yourself, aren't you?" 

He nodded. There was no use denying it – this girl seemed to be able to see into his soul.

"Don't," she said seriously. "I'm proud of mum for having saved you. After Cedric, you were the second great love of her life. She really… really loved you, you know that?"

"Yes, yes, I know it… she couldn't have proved it better," Harry gulped, feeling a lump in his throat.

"Don't blame yourself, Professor Potter," Liu said. "I'm not blaming you, either."

Harry looked down at the little girl, a grateful smile spreading on his face. He felt much, much lighter. He felt absolved… "Don't call me Professor Potter… at least not outside class."

"Then… what should I call you? Harry?"

"You can call me Harry if you want… but I would be honoured if you called me dad."

"So it's true then… that you and Ginny are adopting me?"

"Your mother asked us to, and we'll gladly be your parents if you accept us to be."

She didn't answer – her attention seemed to have been diverted by something… something cute and golden approaching them.

"It's Angel, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, it is," Harry said, crouching down to be at the same eye-level with the baby unicorn. Angel had grown a lot since Kevin and the twins had found her in the Forbidden Forest, but she still seemed to like Harry, regardless of his age and gender.

"Hi, little one," he patted her head and she snuggled close to him, giving him a loving look. Strange how much the colour of her eyes resembled Hedwig's…

"I think she has adopted you," Liu smiled at the crouching Harry.

"Adopted?" he looked up with an incredulous expression. "Well… dunno… maybe I should just let myself be adopted by her, huh? Or would you like it the other way around, Angel?"

The foal neighed sympathetically, as though giving her consent. "I'd be happy to have her around the house," Liu said suddenly. "My siblings would like her, too… don't you think dad?"

Harry nodded, smiling. So, she had accepted him… Angel had also accepted him… it seemed that there would be three additions to the Potter family in the near future. He couldn't wait.

* * * * *

When Dan was released from the hospital wing, accompanied by Gilda, Albus Dumbledore walked up to him.

"I have to talk to you, young man," he said. Gilda was just about to say she'd leave, but the headmaster carried on: "Miss Lockhart may stay, there's nothing she cannot hear. I'd like you to come up to my office."

Gilda was awed by Dumbledore's office; she had never been there before. Professor McGonagall, Severus Snape, Professor Sprout and Stella Sinistra – the heads of houses – were awaiting them in the circular room. Daniel had no idea why the headmaster had invited the others, but he didn't have a bad feeling about it at all. 

"So, Daniel, I have good news for you," the old wizard said. "The staff has decided to allow you to continue your studies, because you are no longer considered dangerous. I will personally continue your Imaginer education from Viviane Vablatsky's book and in a couple of years you'll be a fully-fledged Imaginer. Besides this, we have got to know that the Sorting Hat has been magically manipulated by Lucius Malfoy to sort you into Slytherin, thus the staff and myself have thought that you deserve a new chance."

"A new chance, sir?"

"Yes, Daniel. That is why I have asked the heads of houses to be present when the Hat decides which house to put you into. I think it is only fair to let you have a sorting in which your true qualities are judged and not some evil curse directs the Hat's decisions. So, be so kind and put it on," he pointed at the frayed hat lying on the three-legged chair.

With wobbly legs, Daniel approached the stool and lifted the hat with shaking hands. He cast a glance at Gilda whose face radiated excitement and concern. And also sadness.

Only Dumbledore caught Dan's glance at Gilda and his mouth tucked into a grin.

The Sorting Hat sank onto the boy's head, blocking his vision.

"Ah, you again!"

*Well, yeah.* Dan thought. *The headmaster said that you had to re-sort me. *

"Oh, yes, I know, I have been bewitched to put you into Slytherin," the Hat replied. "And I did so, didn't I?"

*Well, yes, you did.*

"Hm… hard decision, really… Slytherin, Slytherin… I'm not sure I would have put you into Slytherin if I hadn't been bewitched. Perhaps rather into Gryffindor. Yes, I think you're rather a Gryffindor than a Slytherin…"

Though Daniel couldn't see anything since the hat had sunk down to his nose, Gilda's sad face flashed into his mind. *Tell me, Hat, do you have to place me into Gryffindor by all means?*

"Why? Don't you want to be there?" came the surprised answer.

*Do you or don't you?* Dan insisted.

"Well… I really cannot decide. I think you are a bit more of a Gryffindor than a Slytherin, but…"

*But I could stay in Slytherin if I wanted, couldn't I?*

"Are you sure that this is what you want? A Potter in Slytherin? Rather weird idea!"

*I know. You have no idea how much I have wanted to be in Gryffindor for months…*

"But of course I do have an idea! I can see into the students' heads, remember? That is why I'm so surprised that you want to stay in your house."

*Maybe you cannot _fully _see into my head. * Daniel grinned. *If you could, then you'd see the reason why I want to stay in my house…*

"Oh… that girl?" the Hat sighed.

*Yes, that girl. Gilda. She's my best friend… and even more than that. I don't want to leave her.*

"Is this your last word?"

*Yes. It is.*

"All right, then. SLYTHERIN!"

With a relieved smile, Dan took off the Hat and placed it back on the stool. Professor McGonagall seemed dumbfounded, Snape looked strangely contented, and Albus Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling in a knowing way. 

Gilda Lockhart was beaming.

"I can't believe it, Dan!" she said enthusiastically when they had got far enough from the headmaster's office. "I was so sure that it'd put you into Gryffindor!"

"Well… it did not. It thought I was all right in Slytherin," he replied, sneaking an arm around her. "And I'm really okay here. Who knows? My horrible triplet-siblings will come here in September, and knowing them, they have a good chance to be Slytherins, too."

"You know… I'm really happy that you haven't left," she whispered.

"Exactly _how_ happy are you?" he grinned.

"This happy," she grinned back, catching his lips with hers. They had been snogging for minutes when they suddenly heard Gilderoy Lockhart's voice:

"Honestly, Severus, I really don't understand you. Why on Earth are you keeping it a secret? You can't be so selfish as to not want anyone else to have flashy teeth like yours!" his voice was getting louder and louder, he and Snape must have been approaching.

"Come!" Gilda whispered to Dan and they raced down the stairs, the farther from Gilda's father, the better. Neither of them thought that Gilderoy would be happy seeing his only daughter madly snogging a boy on the corridor…

They had no idea how much they had run, but they stopped only when they were both panting and exhausted. Laughing, Daniel backed the girl against a door and gave her another kiss.

"Uhhh, you're stifling me!" she pushed him back.

"Why are you protesting? Isn't it a beautiful way to die – while snogging?"

"Oh, you prat!" she laughed, when suddenly they heard Lockhart's miffed voice again:

"You are one selfish man, Severus Snape! I don't care, keep your ruddy secret!"

"Can one not get rid of these?" Dan groaned and pushed the handle of the door Gilda was leaning against, but it refused to open. "_Alohomora_!"

The door opened and they entered, shutting it quietly behind themselves. "At least I learnt one useful thing from Norbert," the boy murmured, but she wasn't listening – she was occupied with sizing up a huge mirror in the corner. 

"Oh… Erised again? I wasn't even watching what kind of room we entered," he said.

"Erised?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah – desire read backwards. If you stand in front of it, it shows you the deepest desire of your heart."

Without thinking, she stepped in front of the mirror, stared at it for a while then turned around, frowning. "The mirror's malfunctioning."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't show anything special… just me."

"Step aside, let me have a look," he said and she moved away, giving him space to face his greatest desire. "I think you're right. It isn't working. It just shows me… exactly the way I am…"

"Well…" she looked around, "is that the famous Hogwarts parchment book?"

"Yes, it is," he nodded. "But I don't really care about parchment books or mirrors when I'm alone with you in a disused classroom…"

"Then… what do you have in mind?" she cocked her head, looking innocent.

Without replying, he pulled her to himself again and started their longest ever snogging-session, unaware what the 'malfunctioning' of the mirror had meant… that they were happy. That they couldn't have been happier…

* * * * *

A couple of hours before the end-of-the-year-feast Harry was in his study, packing things he'd need for the summer. He grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and dropped it into his trunk, sighing. Had Draco Malfoy not 'borrowed' it, Lily would be probably dead, or all of them would have died.

Life was so ironic, he thought. Why did everything have to happen to him? Oh well, Trelawney had foretold it back in September, hadn't she? But Harry would never admit that the old fraud had been right. Never. His lips tucked into a smirk as he recalled the Halloween night – Petunia visiting Trelawney in 'Sybill's nook' then leaving the festivity tent, having hysterics… He had received a letter from his aunt a week earlier. It was a rather cheerful letter. Petunia told him about the birth of her second (third) grandchild – it depended on your point of view – if you counted David as Petunia's son, then Dudley and Millicent's second daughter Dee Dee was her second grandchild, but if you counted Dave as her grandson, then Dee Dee was the third. It seemed so that both Daisy and Dee Dee Dursley would be witches, but Petunia didn't seem to mind that much. Vernon was still grumpy about it, but what could he do? Petunia had also written Harry how much Marge had been taken aback by the talking painting he had sent her for Christmas. Harry had to grin imagining Marge pointing at the painting with her fat index finger, her eyes bulging – he just couldn't help picturing her another way than looking like a balloon…

He had just finished with the packing when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" he shouted, and to his surprise, Remus Lupin entered.

"Uh… I hope I'm not disturbing," he said.

"No," Harry shrugged. "Do you need some books for the summer? Feel free to borrow any."

"No, I haven't come to ask anything from you… or perhaps maybe…" he heaved a huge sigh. "I've come to ask for your forgiveness, Harry."

Professor Potter knitted his eyebrows. "What for?"

"For everything," Remus hung his head. "I… I got to know the truth…"

"The truth? About what?" 

"Your wish," he looked up, his apologetic stare meeting Harry's surprised one.

"Oh. I didn't want you to know," Harry said, bending down to close his trunk.

"But I still got to know… don't ask how, it's not important… what is important is that I feel ashamed. I… I have been such an idiot, telling you such things when they weren't true at all…"

"Don't apologise. I also told you horrible things," Harry replied. "And I'm sorry about them."

"I'm also sorry, Harry. I have been so unfair to you. You deserve better friends than me… so I understand if you don't want my friendship back, but… at least forgive me, please."

Harry gave him a serious glance. "I have long forgiven you, Remus."

"Have you?" Lupin blinked. 

"Yes. But you're right… you're really an idiot… an idiot if you think that I _don't_ want your friendship back."

A huge smile spread on Remus' face. "Thanks, Harry."

"You're welcome," he smiled back. "What else are friends for than understanding and forgiving each other?"

"True," Lupin nodded. "I'm going to keep this in mind for the future."

* * * * *

The students were filing into the Great Hall for the end of term feast, chattering happily and excitedly. Kevin stopped Daniel at the door.

"Hey, I just wanted to give this back to you," he pulled the Marauder's Map out of his pocket. Daniel had given it to Gilda to give it to Kevin after he had been 'expelled'.

"Oh, just keep it," young Potter smiled. "You and the twins need it more than I do."

Certainly this was true – he was an Imaginer, and a very powerful one at that. If he got into trouble with a teacher, he had more of a chance to be able to get out of it even without a map, so his cousins could use it better than him.

"Wow, thanks," Kevin's face lit up. "Viv and Val will be overjoyed."

"I have no doubt of that," Dan nodded. "Well, I've got to go to my table."

Before the dinner appeared on the golden plates, Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet to deliver the usual end-of-school-year speech.

"Another year is gone. I hope that all of you have managed to learn a lot and enjoyed yourselves throughout the school year. Lots of things have happened, both good and bad, but we can state that at least we haven't been bored," the old wizard said with twinkling eyes. "Before I announce the winner of the house cup, let me make another interesting announcement. First of all, you have to get to know something about our caretaker, Mr. Bradley." he pointed at Beryl, who was smiling sheepishly. "I'd like you all to know that his name is Beryl Bradley, and he's a she."

A loud murmur ran down the hall and everyone's eyes fixed on her.

"Miss Bradley requested to work at Hogwarts in order to flee from her ex-husband who escaped from a Muggle prison. I consented to let her work here, under one condition: if she pretended to be a man. I trust she has held up her little illusion quite well, hasn't she?" Albus smirked and most of the students nodded. "Fortunately her ex-husband got caught by the Police a few days ago, thus she is free to live her life as a woman again. The first step she takes to re-establish her life is getting married… to our prominent Potions Master, Professor Snape."

An even louder murmur ran down the hall, most students gasped, others giggled, again others expressed their compassion towards Beryl. Snape looked a bit pinker than usual and kept staring at his plate.

Valentine Weasley burst into tears.

"So, you really don't have a crush on him, do you?" her twin teased.

"And now, let us get down to the house-points," the headmaster clasped his hands. "They stand thus: in fourth place Gryffindor with 297 points," the students applauded politely. Daniel felt pangs of remorse – those minus 300 points had left their mark on Gryffindor's results. "In third place Ravenclaw house with 331 points. In second place stands Slytherin with 409 points," Slytherin had won the Quidditch cup, but it still wasn't enough to make first place in the inter-house championship, "…and the winner of the house cup is Hufflepuff house with 482 points!"

Everyone in the hall (with the exception of some Slytherins) burst into applause, especially the happy winners. David Dursley was the loudest of all the Hufflepuffs, but little Julie Dumbledore also did her utmost in cheering. Hufflepuff hadn't won the house cup for more than a century, but this year, thanks to the Halloween bonus points for the costumes, they finally won. 

"It was high time, really," Harry whispered to Hermione, who nodded.

"They deserved it," she said. "But you know… Snape's marriage is a bit… er…"

"Funny?" Harry helped her out.

"Exactly."

"I had no idea that Bradley was a woman… and now she is marrying Snape," he grinned, reaching for his spoon as the soup appeared in his plate.

"I think she's not merely marrying Snape," Hermione added.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at her. She wears robes, but even those show that she has… um… grown a bit… round the middle."

Harry almost spat out the spoonful of soup. "You don't mean…"

"Why not?" she smirked.

"Uh… the poor kid," Harry sighed. He remembered Minerva and Aberforth's wedding, and that he and Ginny had been joking about Snape marrying and having kids. _'Imagine his kids: crooked nose, greasy hair and an obsession for Potions_.' Ginny had said. Harry had found it particularly funny back then… but now… he couldn't help but laugh. He _still_ found it funny.

* * * * *

That night was the first he and Ginny spent together since the fateful chamber-day. It was a nice, warm summer night and the stars above were sparkling like little diamonds. The Potter couple was standing at the window, staring out into the garden, Harry's arms tightly wound around Ginny. 

Things had not been easy for them, but perhaps the future would be more gracious to them than the past… and Voldemort belonged to the past. He would never come back again.

Harry and Ginny had not been surprised when one day Lily and Daniel had come to them and asked them to tell the accurate story of Tatyana. Harry hadn't been exhilarated by the question, but he had felt that his children deserved to know… that they deserved to know why they had had to go through those terrible things… and Lily and Daniel had understood him. They had said that he shouldn't be blaming himself, for it hadn't been his fault. Harry couldn't help but wonder how his two eldest children had matured so suddenly, but he had to realise that shocks and trials made one grow up quicker than they would normally have.

Harry was happy to see his daughter with an appropriate boyfriend for a change – Christopher Wood seemed to be very nice and gallant towards Lily. As for Daniel… he disappeared more and more often, and Harry had no doubt that he was visiting empty classrooms with a certain Miss Lockhart. He had no idea how Gilderoy would take the news of their children dating, but he was quite sure that Mr. Goldylocks had no idea about it at all.

"It seems that everything is going to be settled, after all," Ginny said quietly, bending her head on his shoulder. "Liu is happy with us. I know how much she misses her mother, but whenever I look at her, I no longer see sadness in her eyes. She has managed to grow to love us all, especially Lea. She said she had always wanted a little sister like her."

"Good," Harry whispered, taking a deep breath, enjoying the fragrant aroma of the elderflowers. "Gin…"

"Yes?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Then ask."

"Why… why did you teleport yourself down into the chamber… when you exactly knew that things like Apparating could be harmful for an unborn child?"

"Oh, you potty Potter," she disentangled herself from his embrace to face him properly. "I love you and you are very important to me… more important than an unborn child. Had I lost him, we could still have conceived another, but had I lost you, I don't know what I would have done… I love you so much, Harry."

"I love you, too," he said and bent down to kiss her. She melted into his kiss that got more and more feverish by the second. She started pushing his robes off his shoulder and he began to undo her buttons, when she suddenly drew back, panting. "What?" he knitted his eyebrows.

"You… you remember what Voldemort said?" she gulped. "That the dead could see… everything we do…?"

"I remember, but I don't care," he replied. "Let Voldemort see us and let him explode with anger seeing how happy we are."

She giggled. "True. So, then, what do we do now, Mr. Potter?"

"First of all we close the window… then we perform a _Quietus_ charm on the room… then…"

"I think I can guess the rest," she laughed.

Despite the _Quietus_ charm they had placed on the room, they were awoken by some crashing noise early in the morning. Harry yawned, put on his glasses and boxers, and walked up to the window. 

"What is it?" Ginny asked, still curled up under the blanket.

"It seems that Gabrielle is moving out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, have a look at it for yourself," he beckoned to her. She padded to the window and was appalled to see all kinds of wardrobes, chairs, tables and carpets floating over the Potter's garden, out of Gabrielle's house, towards Malfoy's. One of the wardrobes had been dropped right into their garden - that had made the crashing sound that had woken them up.

Harry told Ginny about his last visit to Draco's house and voiced his opinion that Draco and Gabie had already been together for a while. 

Even before breakfast, the Potters decided to go down into the garden and ask Miss Delacour how long the removal would last.

Gabrielle was standing at the gate of her house, watching over the carrier wizards' work, clearly miffed that they had let her favourite wardrobe fall.

"Good morning, Gabie!" the Potters greeted her. "Are you moving?"

"Yes," she blushed slightly. "Drhaco and I decided to live togezzer and I 'ave sold my 'ouse."

"Sold it?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "And may we ask who bought it?"

"Well," Miss Delacour shrugged, "I don't rheally know 'im… some Potions Professohr called Snape or who…"

**A/N:** believe it or not, I wrote the epitaph for Cho's tomb in a cemetery. It was shortly before Christmas that my mum and I visited some deceased relatives' tombs and I thought I should write an epitaph for Cho, and no other place seemed more perfect for that purpose. Weird place to write a poem, isn't it?

Well, the story's not over, one short epilogue is left.

_BigDaddy753_: I know it's sad that this doesn't have a sequel, but it's so 'closed' that I couldn't make up anything else to continue it, I've run out of evil-guy-ideas.

_colei:_ loved your arts!

_sikokid:_ there's one more chapter, and no, there's no sequel, sorry. But I promise to come up with a whole new storyline during the summer and continue entertaining you in autumn.

_Houou:_ bingo, you have managed to find out whom Becky married! Clever girl!

_Katrina:_ I'm glad you didn't think the action scene was that terrible :)

_Katrina #2_: (I had to put 'number two' there, because there are two readers called Katrina:): well, I was playing with the thought of putting Dan into Gryffindor, but then I thought that it'd be much cooler if he insisted on staying in Slytherin just as much Harry had insisted on being a Gryffindor.

_2Coolio:_ one more chapter.

_figgiesblazin:_ I don't know either how I managed to come up with this stuff… but I'm glad you liked it :)

_Tap Dancing Widow_: yes, Harry technically lost a son. I'm proud of Lily, too :D

_cat:_ I answered you in a mail.

_candycaneOgram:_ well, yes, this chapter was pretty much a wind-up one, but things aren't totally over yet… there's a double-wedding coming in the epilogue! Norbert ripped that page out after their first visit to the chamber. Dan only noticed the Book of Imaginers when they were in the chamber for the second time, he had no idea that Norbert had been there between their two visits to the chamber. I tried to send you the sketch, but I got a failure notice, dunno why. Maybe your inbox was too full? Or you gave me an improper email-address?

_Nefertiri:_ well, I think it's obvious why Norbert got into Slytherin – he was Voldemort, after all. Dan got into Slytherin because of the hexed Sorting Hat, and now stayed there because he CHOSE TO (remember, Albus said that Harry got into Gryffindor because he chose not to be in Slytherin). As for Gilda: I believe she's quite ambitious (remember how hard she was studying to win the title Queen of Beauty and Love), and I believe that really ambitious people belong into Slytherin. The Potter baby won't be born in the fic, but I suppose it's a boy. As for Snape's kid, I believe it'll be a girl. Although I'll never write a fic of this, I've imagined the following scene:

_Severus emerged from the Hogwarts infirmary with a tiny bundle in his arms and a stupid grin on his face. The Potters and the Malfoys (who had known that Beryl had gone into labour, since they were Snape's neighbours) now rushed to the new father to peer into the little bundle he was holding._

_"Oooooh… isn't she cute?" cooed Ginny._

_"She's a little angel!" nodded Gabrielle enthusiastically._

_"Of course she's beautiful, since she doesn't look a thing like her father," added Harry, only to get a murderous look from Snape._

I think the Malfoys had more than one house-elf, so they didn't really mind losing Dobby. There's one more chapter. Snape and Beryl' wedding in the next chapter. Sorry, no more about Lucky the Niffler.

_Inigma:_ I don't know Lizzie Maguire, sorry. One more chapter left. What? Amelia with goat babies? Noooooo!!! (though I was laughing madly when I read this, LOL). I'm sorry that your fic got deleted :( But I'm happy that your performance went cool :)

_The Millenium One_: yes, Draco/Gabie wedding in the epilogue. Thank you very much for your appraisal *Agi's grinning stupidly at the computer screen*. I promise to come out with a new story in autumn.

_Mooniala Trials_: thanks a lot :)

_CloverWeave_: I'm glad I managed to make you cry, well sort of, because I was also crying when I killed off Cho, no matter how much I hated her. I don't think that the story was overall sad, there was a lot of comic relief throughout it. And don't worry, next chapter will have some humour as well. 

_Lioness-07863_: no, he can't come back, rejoice!

_Kit Cloudkicker_: spank Norbie? LOL! :D

_kitch:_ no sequel, sorry. But I promise to write a whole new fic over the summer. I'm not sure I'd write a 6th year fic, perhaps a 7th year again (in seventh year the characters are one year older and it isn't that bad if they do… certain things – but only in PG-13 terms, of course!)

_Beauty in Disguise_: yes, it runs in the family, mum and I have a lot of talents in common: we both write poems, make up weird plots and also draw quite well :)

_maureen_: yes, both wishes at the wishing well are fulfilled now. Did you like the Sorting Hat part? I hope so :)

_Alexander Phoenix_: though your review was really short, it made me feel really happy, because the words 'wow, what a chapter' perfectly assess everything :) 

_VegaKeep: _I had no idea that there were two trilogies in the Dragon Lance series. We only have the Dragons of the Autumn twilight, the Dragons of the winter night and a third one that I haven't bought yet, but it's called Raistlin's daughter. The other trilogy hasn't been published in Hungary yet. 

_seashell:_ yes, I have a little bit of sympathy for Cho, but not much I swear! 

_L-chan:_ thanks, I'll try not to be self-degrading! :D And I'm glad I didn't mentally scar you this time!

_goldenstar555_: Draco's your fave? I also like him, and I looooved writing the Draco/Gabie scene in this chapter.

_C-chan:_ no, I said there were four deaths, not five. Sure, you may have Norbert :) 

_Alex:_ I thought that Snape falling for a Muggle would be a slap in the face for him, but I believe he has got over the 'crap, she's a Muggle'-part, and he loves for despite that.

_Mistri:_ *grins and blushes*

_PheonixFire_: don't worry, he'll stay dead this time, for ever. One more chapter left.

_Red Ridding Hood_: well, old Draco got some sex in this chapter, didn't he? ;) My mum's name is Lea (I named Harry's youngest after her, as I mentioned it in chapter 2). No, I haven't seen X men. 

_ArgiCallista:_ no, no sushi (yuck)

_Laura:_ when will you graduate? This year? 

_Any last requests:_ don't worry, you're not the only one who still likes Norbert. Well, you got a lot of Daniel in this chapter, didn't you? 

_xaebhal_: thanks a lot!

_Zenon Lee_: *blushes* you're exaggerating… but it feels so good :) I hope you thought that Harry's reaction was okay, I tried to make him quite depressed in this chapter, have I managed? No, of course Harry won't feel love for Cho, he feels sad that she has died, but he's not in love with her, he loves his wife. Draco has long ago 'turned on' Lucius, not in that spectacular way, but he has been living separately for more than a decade, he hasn't liked his dad for a long time. The 'Asian chick' wasn't supposed to be a racist expression, but I thought that Norbert would think of such things.

_Lavendar Brown_: yes, Voldie's really dead, he will never ever come back again (at least not in this story-line). So, there's no sequel, but I'll write a totally new fic over the summer, I promise.

_Delta T:_ glad you think so.

_Indigo Ziona:_ I liked Lily, too. Funny that you hadn't realised the incestuous streak ;) Yes, Dumbledore had found out how to help Dan get his powers back (remember, he and Cho had found the 'brother' of the Imaginer book in the Wizarding Library of Arizona). 

_Toby Haine:_ I'm always so happy when my readers tell me that I made them like Gildy! :D Were you REALLY shipping H/Hr and I turned you into a H/Ger? Oh, that's great!!! No, I have never written the bathroom scene. Some day I might, when I'm really very bored to death and have nothing else to do ;) Sorry for the lack of cliffies, but I simply couldn't include more of them.

_rebkos_: thanks :D

_Lady Schezar_: I'm glad you thought that chapter 29 was the best :D But somehow chapter 30 also belongs to my favourites, although there's no action, I think this chapter was full of emotions. What do you think?

_Inken:_ I'm sorry it disappointed you, but thankfully you seemed to be the only one who thought so. Not everyone can like everything :) As for the 'reborn-as-his-greatest-enemy's-child', I also thought that it was way too simple, but I didn't feel like making up twisted theories about this, since I still remember that my readers complained after chapter 31 of TGSiHH and chapter 28 of TGSaWCS that I had given them way too difficult explanations and they had problems understanding them. This was simple enough to make sure that they would understand it.

_X-Tow-Naga_: I don't think I could write 'vague' action scenes. *shrugs*

_Elfangor19_: I only have a very vague plot for a new story, and it might change when I read OotP, so I can't tell you anything. You said I should write SW fics and draw SW arts. Well, I used to write SW fics, but got bored of them, but I have some old SW arts that I could send to you if you gave me your email address.

_Tyleet:_ I hope you no more feel like sending me a Howler :)

_sabby:_ even if I made Cho sort of nasty, I let her die a hero's death, and I think it made up for my writing her evil.

_Myr Halcyon_: congrats on getting such good scores. You asked whether I also got this 'confused review' a lot. Well, this is funny. Many people told me that chapter 31 of TGSiHH and chapter 28 of TGSaWCS confused them, because I wrote such difficult explanations. Now I wrote a simpler explanation to how Norbert could be reborn, and now I got a complaint that it was way too simple and disappointing. Just a little advice: not everyone will like what you write, you cannot please everyone. There were several readers who had complained about the lack of H/G romance in this fic, then again others complained about those very few mushy H/G scenes… totally controversial. A fanfic author must get used to this, because there'll always be people who criticise what you write. But chin up and continue posting!

_Altec:_ by half-Indian I referred to Padma (both Parvati and Padma are Indians, aren't they? At least everyone in the HP fandom considers them as Indians, their names are also Indian). 

_Angela:_ I don't think I have ever had a reviewer called Angela before, so you must be the first Angela :)

_Black Ice: _you know, I never really thought of the 'incest is fun' remark showing Norbert's eleven year old self… but now that you tell me, it's true. I haven't started a mailing list, somehow I thought it'd be a bit… stuck-up to start a yahoo group or something based on my fics. Perhaps I'm just way too modest?

_AmandaPanda_: my mum says she's happy that you think so! :D

'_mione we@sley_: one more chapter left *sob* it's almost over! I loooved posting it! Well, chin up Agi, you'll write another one over the summer (stupid me, talking to myself!;)

_Princess Ginny_: nothing special in my life, only that the damn exams are approaching again :( But at least I have something to look forward to: OotP! With the knowledge that I'll get it on the 21st June, it'll be easier to study for the exams!

_apple-pie_: funny that people still have such controversial feelings towards Norbert… they loved him and hated him at once. Don't feel that bad for Liu, she'll be okay with the Potters.

_Phoenix_Kiss02_: glad you liked Draco killing Voldie :) 

_Mage_: sorry, I don't have AOL instant messenger, only ICQ. But feel free to email me if you want to talk :)

_SparkleCharm_: thanks for the review on phoenixtears! Oh, poor Voldie, run over by a U. S. tank! May I present you the Voldie-pancake? ;) I hope you did well on your finals. Since I haven't updated any earlier, I couldn't wish you good luck here on ffnet, but I thought of you and hoped everything would be all right :) 

_K. C. Hunter:_ thanks, it did sound all right :) Hehe, so I'm granted permission to use clichés? LOL, that's great. 

_Kristen Michelle_: for the time being I'm not planning to publish anything original, but I'll remember to mail you when I do so :D In about ten years, LOL. You weren't the only one who hated Cho, but still felt sorry for her, it's quite natural, I think. I also felt sorry for her when I killed her off, actually I even cried.

_thecrazygirl:_ um… you could give me one single spoiler… please! Who dies in OotP? I have to know! Is it Hagrid or Lupin or someone else? (Please, email me with the information, so that others don't get to know if they read the reviews). I don't want to know anything else but this little piece of information, I simply need it to be able to prepare 'mentally' for it and then perhaps I won't cry when that person dies.

_Punky Poet_: thanks a lot! :)

_Kamatazi Yumi_: sorry, this plot world will not be continued, one short epilogue left, and it's over :( But I'm sure I'll use some ideas from these fics in my future fics (e.g. book titles like Beautiful Bill's Biography or elf-names like Kinky).

_Colibi:_ no, it's not over yet. One more short chappie to go.

_Amaranta_: sorry, no sequel. But be sure to look at my author site in autumn, because I'll definitely write a whole new fic over the summer, based on the newly acquired knowledge from OotP.

_Romina_: yes, I'll surely write a new HP fic over the summer, so check back on my author site in September/October.

_ruffled owl_: glad you liked it, but it's not over yet – one happy double wedding coming up!

_JenniferW:_ I hope now you understand the Lucius-involvement.

_Makayla P_.: your poor friend got dragged across the dance floor? LOL :D 

_aprenticeofdobby_: it's a great honour to be compared to Cassie Claire and Nemesis, because they wrote the two best HP fanfics ever: Draco Dormiens and I am Lord Voldemort. These two are really the best ever, so thanks for saying that my story rivalled theirs :)

_heavenly182angel:_ no, actually it didn't take that much time to plan it all, most of it was spontaneous. Sorry, but it's really just a trilogy, and it's almost over. But there's one more short epilogue that'll be surely fun :)

_Wood's secret lover_: usually I like fantasy books, but IMHO the Dark Materials just lack the fantasy. Well, okay, there's a lot of interesting things made up in there, but they just don't sound believable, while e.g. in HP the fantasy parts DO sound believable. And I don't like stories in which I don't like the main character, and Lyra irritates me to no end, a fibbing little freak, that's what she is. Not to mention that the whole series is totally against Christianity. You know that I didn't think HP had anything anti-Christian, but Dark Materials is 100% anti-Christian. The Sally Lockhart series sounds believable, much more interesting and much more 'intelligent'. Sally isn't a little freak like Lyra, she's a really cool character. I used to like Fred too, pity that he has been killed off. Don't worry, some others also like Cho (but there aren't too many of you out there). I have read the cliché collection, but not here on ffnet, but on Riddikulus. Really funny fic!

_Katie Bell_: don't worry, I also felt sorry for her when I killed her off!

_Bucky:_ no, Gilda won't kill Liu! And you know, Liu isn't even as bad as her mum was. And don't worry, she'll stop badgering Dan, she'll be merely his sister, while Gilda will be his girlfriend.

_Shazzman:_ bravo, you're clever, you're the only one who guessed that Dan would stay in Slyhterin for Gilda! :) Yup, Lucius is in Azkaban and will stay there until he dies. The promised 4th fic will come in autumn :)

_Wizzabee_: Cho loved both Cedric and Harry. She loved them to the same level, Harry wasn't just a substitute, but she uttered Cedric's name when she was dying, because as 'the tunnel' opened in front of her, she saw Cedric there, waiting for her… at least that's how I imagined it. And I'm glad I managed to make you cry, because I was bawling like a baby when I wrote that scene :)

_TaMaraR_: don't worry, Voldie can't come back. And no, I didn't want Dan to become a Gryffindor. Glad you liked the consistency.  


	31. Epilogue

**A/N**: here's the end *Agi bursts into tears*. Well, pull yourself together, Agi, you've still got to reply some reviews…

First of all, thanks for wishing me 'May the Force be with you!' :)

Now I'm only answering a few reviews, since this is the last chapter. Please, those, whose reviews aren't answered here, don't be mad at me!

_ruffled owl:_ no, I haven't seen Chicago, but I drew an art for Jenna Mae's Miss Hogwarts fic based on the poster of Chicago. If you're interested, you can find it in the Draco section of ArtisticAlley or in the art gallery of checkmated.

_Altec:_ I believe that Desideria only had a bad feeling about Harry's wish, but didn't actually know what would happen. 

_Melee:_ I've really run out of bad guys, sorry. No sequel. But I promise to write a totally new story over the summer, I just need to read OotP before it :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: sorry, but Abu just doesn't fit into this chapter… he can't be there in a chapel, can he?

_Punky Poet: _I might draw a Harry with Angel pic some day. I named Dee Dee Dursley after Dee Dee from Dexter's Lab ;) Short stories? Hm… someone suggested to write one about Snape… dunno, I might do so, if I feel like and have a bit of time. I'm not sure, but I promise to write a long fic and come out with it in autumn.

_C-chan_: irony is definitely fun! :D I started learning English at the age of 10, I only learned it in the school till the age of 18. Then I started reading Star Wars books, fics and HP fics in English, and that was what 'refined' my English knowledge. Did your family welcome Norbert? ;)  Who/what is Carboardia?

_PheonixFire:_ an outtake on Snape? Hm… what should that be? Beryl giving birth and him being the nervous-but-happy-daddy? I might consider it…

_ArgiCallista_: well, Cho saved Harry, but the one who'd deserve Order of Merlin would be Draco (he saved the world by killing Norb, after all). However, I just can't imagine Draco as the holder of the Order of Merlin… it doesn't suit him, IMHO.

_Indigo Ziona_: turning you into a Draco fan? LOL. I promise to continue writing!

_thecrazygirl_: I have various perverse ideas for fics (LOL, not *that* perverse), but I'm not sure whether I'll write them or not. I mean I'll write a fic, but I'm not sure whether I'll use any of those ideas for it, or I'll have new ones after reading OotP.

_phoenix_kiss02_: you are awaiting the release of OotP because then I might write a new fic? You know… I found this funny and touching at once :) You can get rid of the horrid gut feeling, because I didn't intend to write about Norb's tomb in a foreboding way. I rather intended that line to refer to the permanency of this situation: he'll stay dead to the end of times and never ever return. And since this fic will never have a sequel, you don't have to worry about him returning. I'll write other HP fics with Voldie, but those will have absolutely nothing to do with Norbert and his tomb. It just seems that my readers know me to hide evil things everywhere… but I swear that this time there was nothing hidden in there.

_Colibi:_ read the 'what happens to the characters' at the end (totally wacky), that tells you a lot (or not?) Well, any child of Draco and Gabie's will be blond, of course.

_Wood's secret lover_: I don't know whether I like Liu more than Cho… yeah, perhaps I do. Please, don't cry… you'll have OotP soon, so chin up! And I'll be back in autumn with a new fic, I promise!

_Lioness-07863_: plans for the future: I'll read OotP and make up a totally new story, that is of course H/G. Actually I wrote one chapter of a fic last summer that I never continued. I might continue that one, or I might use another idea that involves a bit of H/Hr but ends up as H/G, but I might think of something totally different from these two. Time (and OotP) will tell.

_xaebhal:_ what could I write about in a Dan's second year fic? I think this series is so 'emptied' that I could no more make anything out of it. I've run out of evil guys, too, and without a cool evil guy the story would suck. I might write a short outtake of TGEEF about Severus and his baby, and other outtakes of the trilogy (if I can think of any), but apart from that I'm done with this series. Don't worry, I'll come out with a new long fic in autumn.

_Red Ridding Hood_: of course I'll mail you when I start uploading a new fic… I just have write one before that! :D No, for the time being I'm not planning to learn Spanish, I'd like to learn Russian over the summer.

_TigerLily_: never read The Once and Future King. Or is it a movie? A book? No idea at all. I've seen Excalibur, and another movie called The mists of Avalon. But I didn't take the idea from there. In fact I had already reached writing chapter 29 when I realised that the situation of Harry/Norb resembled a bit Arthur/Mordred (that's why I made Norbert mention it in chapter 29). So it wasn't intentional, perhaps it was subconscious, dunno.

_Houou:_ I agree, it'd make a great and funny sitcom! Just hop into your armchair, grab a package of popcorn and enjoy the Snape Wars trilogy ;)

_apprenticeofdobby:_ I'm definitely planning to write a new fic over the summer, but I'm going to leave Tatyana and Anor rest in peace, so no story about them. I might write a Snape-aside to this fic, but even if I write one, it'll be short and funny.

_weirdo_without_a_clue_: sorry, but this story has no more morbid things in it. But if you want to start shouting 'stop the world I want to get off!', then read the 'what happens to the characters' at the end. It's morbidly stupid :)

_Inken_: no idea about the twins' names. Maybe it's not twins at all. I'm rather for Snape having a daughter only. I know Liu started to call him daddy too early, but since there wasn't going to be another 10 chapters to make her get used to the thought more slowly, it had to happen this quick. The same stands for Lily/Chris. No time for blooming relationships. I know that people on GTnet or SQnet would have written another 10 chapters just to make these characters get slowly together, but I'm much more of a plot-person and try to avoid slowing things down too much, because that's just boring.

_K. C. Hunter_: really? Were there fics in which people gave Cho a child and treated it like shit just because Cho's the mother? That's bad. I never thought Liu could be evil just because she's Cho's daughter. In fact Cho wasn't evil at all, just hopelessly in love with Harry… 

_Romina_: that Hogwarts breakfast sounds cool! :D

_Laura:_ I PROMISE that I won't stop writing HP fics! In fact I had an interesting idea for a fic over the weekend while I was studying for my stupid economy-politics exam… I always get great ideas when I should be concentrating on something else! ;)

_Wizzabee_: I'm going to write a new fic with new ideas (already have some interesting ideas). As for Liu… she isn't unaffected by the wish. Not at all!

_Elfangor19_: yes, I've seen both the British and the American cover of OotP. But I don't really like any of them. The British is boring (shows only a phoenix), the American is way too dark.

_X-Tow-Naga_: yes, I think this must have been the longest review for this fic :) And this is going to be a looooong answer, too. So, everyone in hell and heaven knows about Norb's real parentage, but they aren't likely to go off gossiping about it. Voldie did have enough willpower to talk to the living (e.g. Lucius) from hell, but I think that after this third defeat he has lost his enthusiasm, knowing that all hope is lost, and he doesn't feel like talking to the living anymore. Other dead people simply don't have the reason to spill the beans about Harry's secret child. Lucius knows about the parentage, of course, but I believe that as soon as he got into Azkaban (very likely without a trial, because he damn well didn't deserve one) he immediately got kissed by some cute little Dementors and forgot all about Norb and Harry. IMHO a body can't be evil, really. Norbert wasn't part of the Malfoy family by blood, but since the Malfoys raised him as their son, he did belong to the family. Cedric must have been buried by his parents in a cemetery of his parents' choice, but Cho didn't have any relatives who could bury her in a cemetery of their choice. And since Cho loved Quidditch, I thought it'd be a nice, and very sentimental gesture to bury her near the Quidditch pich. Yep, I think it's bad for Liu to see her mum's grave, but hey, this way she can bring flowers every day, no need for a long walk! It is possible that the Sorting Hat had seen that Dan wanted to stay in Slytherin, but it felt like asking him. Remember, Harry had wanted to go into any house BUT Slytherin, and very likely the Hat had seen that, but it had still asked him: "Not Slytherin? Are you sure?" I believe that the Hat is just a chatty little thing, bored to death and happy to talk to people once in a while ;) As for Snape and his teeth: Beryl had told him how much she loved his new teeth, and I think that he keeps his flashy teeth to make his love happy. Or to annoy Gilderoy :D As for the classroom where the mirror and the Parchment Book were stored: it had been a disused classroom that got turned into a bedroom-sort-of-thingie at the end of TGSiHH. After Harry and Ginny graduated, the room got changed back into a classroom, and the double bed had been removed (well, not right after they graduated, because even Minerva and Aberforth had spent their wedding night in that particular room). It is possible that Dan would be able to imagine a second map... dunno. I'll ask him whether he feels up to it ;) Gryffindor has been very diligent throughout the school-year and did everything to get back all those points they had lost. They didn't manage completely, but they got a lot of points. And finally: the soup... rotfl. You're right, it should have poured out of Harry's mouth :D

Okay, enough of me, enjoy! J

**Chapter 31 / Epilogue**

In the next few days, several articles appeared in the _Daily Prophet_, _The Diagon Alley Journal _and_ The Hogsmeade Times _about Severus Snape's impending marriage. Rhea Skeeter seemed to love the topic very much and wrote long, essay-like articles about the 'transvestite' Snape who had suddenly turned out to be one hundred percent heterosexual and was surely no longer interested in wearing vulture hats and female robes with red handbags.

Some articles of hers still dealt with the reborn Voldemort topic, emphasising that Albus Dumbledore was to be blamed for everything – had he been more careful, had he paid better attention to the students he let into his school, no one would have been harmed and Miss Chang would still be among the living. Harry felt utterly relieved that no journalists got to know about Norbert's real parentage and hoped that it would never come to light. He thought that Rhea Skeeter's articles were simply ridiculous and once asked the headmaster what he thought about them.

"Oh, I do not care for anything what the Skeeters write as long as they don't get a Pulitzer… but I think that is something we do not have to worry about," Dumbledore winked at him. "I know that they have it in for me, but it really does not annoy me at all."

"Excuse me, Albus, but why do they have it in for you? Hermione and I have been wondering this ever since that article about the Halloween events came out."

"Oh," the old wizard grinned, "you know, Harry, the Skeeters have held a grudge against me for over a century."

"Over a century?" 

"Yes… I happened to be courting Rita's grandmother – Rhea's great-grandmother – but left her for… um… the goat."

"The goat?" Harry stifled a chuckle. 

"Yeah… Amelia the goat was much, much prettier than Rebecca… since I left Becky, she decided to marry Roland Skeeter, but, as I heard, their marriage was a catastrophe. So, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have hated me ever since."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I would never have thought that one goat could ruin so many lives, Albus."

"Well, in most cases we have no idea about the consequences of our acts, do we, Harry?"

"No, we don't," the young Charms professor replied. One night, twelve years earlier came to his mind: the night of his third wish. _'My third wish: make all my descendants be magic_!' he had told the goldfish. _'Are you sure?_' the fish had asked. _'Do you really want all your descendants to be magic?'_

Back then he had had no idea why Desideria the goldfish had demurred. Had she been some kind of a Seer? Had she seen that one of Harry's progeny would turn evil – as evil as one could turn? Or had she only had a hunch that something bad would happen if she fulfilled that wish the way Harry had said it?

Harry did not know.

Since Minerva, Aberforth and their great-granddaughter Julie decided to spend most of their summer holiday abroad, even visiting Snow White the yeti in the Himalayas, Angel the baby unicorn had no one to care for her, so Harry and Ginny decided to 'adopt' her – and not just for the summer, but as long as Angel wanted to stay with them. 

The Potter children were delighted to have the cute foal around the house, especially little Lea. Lea was also very happy about having Liu as her new elder sister. The triplets and Lily had also befriended their new sibling, but Daniel was the happiest about having her in the family. He was no more in love with her, and was relieved to get to know that Liu wasn't in love with him either, but he knew that they'd become very, very close friends.

Daniel had been taken aback when he had got to know that Cho had died – he had long been unconscious in the chamber when that happened. He decided to be as good a brother to Liu as possible. He had never been a model brother to Lily and had been teasing her all the time, but he was resolute to be nicer to his new sister. He didn't know whether the wishing well had been working or whether it had just been a ruse, but from a certain point of view his wish had been granted: from now on Liu would be around him, always. 

Daniel had also decided to give up playing Quidditch from the next school year on. He felt that it'd be simply unfair if an Imaginer were playing Seeker for Slytherin while the other team Seekers had no powers rivalling his. When he had announced his decision to the family, Harry had told him that he was very proud of his son's fairness. For one fleeting moment Daniel had felt tempted to say 'that's what a true Gryffindor would do, isn't it, dad?', but he had thought better of it. His family didn't need to know that the Sorting Hat had wanted to place him into Gryffindor, did they? Neither did Gilda need to know that he had only chosen to stay in Slytherin in order to stay with her.

For the first time in his life, young Potter was truly in love. Now he could make a difference between a crush and love, and he knew that he was in love with little, unattractive, but witty and always-ready-for-a-good-fight Miss Lockhart. Though it was way too early to even consider the topic, he wondered what his father would say if he got related to Gilderoy Lockhart some time… heh, that would be fun for sure!

* * * * *

On 2nd July, a very sunny summer day, the little chapel of Hogsmeade felt pleasantly cool compared to the almost unbearable hotness outside. 

Harry had never thought that he'd have an opportunity to witness a wedding here, let alone the weddings of Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy.

Judging by Snape's looks, he wasn't downright delighted about 'Potter' being present, but one of the brides – Gabrielle Delacour - had invited the Potter couple. 

Fleur and her husband Bill were also present – the latter getting rather sour glances from Draco. Harry couldn't hide his grin when he realised what Malfoy's sour glances meant: Draco wasn't taken with the idea of being related to the Weasleys through this marriage, but what could he do? Gabie was Fleur's sister, Fleur was wife to a Weasley, and since Harry was husband to another Weasley, Draco and Harry also got related. 

Malfoy, however, wasn't the only groom having problems with his future relations – so was Severus Snape. He kept glaring at the smugly grinning Neville Longbottom, who would become his brother-in-law.  

There weren't many guests present – except for Harry, Ginny, Bill, Albus Dumbledore, Neville and his wife Mary Sue, there were only the parents of Beryl Bradley and the Delacour sisters, plus the mothers of the grooms: Narcissa Malfoy (looking much healthier than a month ago) and Snape's mother who was crying all the way through the ceremony.

Gabrielle wore an elegant, long white gown that sparkled as though it had been woven of diamonds, and she also had some sort of a diadem glittering on her golden locks. The other bride, Beryl Bradley, wore a much simpler, cream-coloured, loose-fitting dress that more or less concealed her six-months-pregnant belly.

Old Mrs. Snape had not only been crying all along, but also muttering about knitting beautiful jumpers for her grandchild, and Harry had no idea why the Potions Master made a wry face at this and commented 'Just don't knit lilac ones if it's a boy, mum'.

Harry couldn't help grimacing when he imagined his son or daughter-to-be-born, Snape's child and Draco's future children playing together while their parents kept trimming each other's bushes and exchanging hexes over the garden-fence.

When he had told Ron that he would not only have to put up with Draco as a neighbour in the future, but also with Snape, Ron had nearly laughed his head off and complained about serious pains in his midriff afterwards.

"Honestly, I feel sorry for you, mate," he had told Harry, still chuckling. "You could somehow get along with Malfoy, but with Snape…!?!"

"Well," Harry had shrugged. "Snape's not as bad as he looks, really. He saved my life in the chamber, exactly the same way I saved his at Stonehenge. We are quits, so he might stop hating me… and even if he's nasty, his fiancée is really nice and she'll surely make up for good ol' Sev's meanness."

"Really, is it true that he's marrying the caretaker who is a woman but has been disguised as a man?"

"Yeah."

"Weird!" Ron had shaken his head. "She seems such a nice person… even pretty. What could she see in Snape?"

"The same as Millicent sees in Dudley or Aberforth sees in McGonagall." 

"Cupid is sometimes really, really stupid," Ron had said, and Harry couldn't help but agree. Cupid must have been either stupid or must have had a very strange sense of humour…

Now, as he watched the two couples exchange rings and kisses and heard Vicar Diggle pronounce them husbands and wives, Harry took Ginny's hand and she sent him a brilliant smile. Harry hadn't seen her smile like this for a long, long time… ever since before she had lost their baby at Christmas. But now she was the old Ginny again – the old Ginny who could produce the brightest smiles ever. His heart wanted to skip out of his chest whenever he saw that smile, or even if it didn't jump out of his chest, it wanted to burst with happiness.

He remembered the 25th December, when he had stood here, praying: _'Just let Ginny get all right, okay? Let her get out of her depression, let her heal… that's all.'_

And Ginny had healed. 

_'Hey, Old Boy,'_ Harry lifted his head, as if trying to look beyond the chapel's ceiling, _'I suppose I owe you an apology. I've been rather… rude to you recently… not that you haven't made me go through a lot, but in the end everything got settled, and… perhaps you helped in it. I don't know, but… I'd like to believe in it. So... thanks_.'

The two newly wedded couples headed for the door of the chapel in tow with the guests. Snape's mum was still crying and Neville Longbottom was still challengingly grinning at his new brother-in-law, but Severus no longer seemed to notice. All his attention belonged to Beryl Snape who was beaming at him.

Just before the two couples stepped outside (Snape and Beryl in front, Draco and Gabie behind them), Albus Dumbledore pointed his wand towards the exit and said _Avis!_

A flock of white doves shot out of his wand and took off towards the dazzlingly bright sun.

As Snape and his wife exited the chapel, they thought at first that they had been blinded by the sudden change from the relative darkness of the chapel into bright sunshine, but seconds later they realised that it wasn't the sunshine that blinded them but the flashing of cameras. 

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on here?" Snape growled at the dozen journalists who had gathered around the small building.

Rhea Skeeter elbowed her way to the front, holding out a magical microphone to the Potions Master: "At last we found you, Professor! Let me congratulate you in the name of all of my colleagues!"

More cameras flashed.

"But… why?" Severus knitted his eyebrows. "I didn't think that my wedding was that much of an important event for the press."

"Who was talking about the wedding?" Rhea waved. "We've come to congratulate you on winning _Witch Weekly_'s Most Charming Smile Award!"

**THE END**

**A/N: **Zenon Lee said that Rowling would tell us what happens to the characters after book seven, and I also should do so. Okay, Zenon Lee, you wanted it… beware!

**Harry and Ginny** will have this baby (a boy) and live happily ever after. Since they'll be using extra-durable condoms in the future, they won't have any more children. Honeydukes will be profitable, and Ginny will have a lot of fun running it. Harry will continue teaching Charms till he's old enough to retire, and he will have a lot of opportunities to bicker with his two wonderful neighbours as long as he lives (bushes and flowers barely left in their gardens, and the walls of their houses singed and dented from mutual curses). 

**McGonagall** will finally get pregnant just to annoy **Aberforth** and their child will be called Amelia. *does the name ring a bell?*

**Draco and Gabie** will have a daughter and a son. **Snape and Beryl** have a daughter. In thirty years the Potter's baby boy will marry Draco's daughter and Draco's son will marry Snape's daughter. This will even more bring the Potters, Malfoys and Snapes together *now the reader is running off, shouting 'AgiVega's gone maaaaaad!'*

**Daniel** will be the greatest Imaginer ever and will of course marry **Gilda **who will be working at the Ministry as the new Minister's (Sirius Black's) advisor. Dan and Gil will have a horde of kids – some of them will take after grandpa Gilderoy, to Harry's utter horror. 

**Lily** will marry **Chris Wood** and they'll move to Peru to start a llama-farm. *don't ask*

**David **will marry **Circe Diggory** and produce a whole bunch of wizard-Dursleys – to Petunia and Vernon's even grater horror. The house at 4. Privet Drive will be filled with bangs of Filibuster's Fireworks whenever (great)grandma **Petunia** is taking care of her (great)grandchildren. **Vernon** will freak out and move out of the house, into his office at Grunnings. 

**Albus **will retire in a couple of years and the new headmistress of Hogwarts will be **Hermione,** who will make 'Hogwarts, a History' a compulsory book for all Hogwarts students (resulting in several Hogwarts students fleeing from the school and rather choosing to continue their studies at Durmstrang where **Viktor Krum** is still the headmaster and has finally found himself a girl and forgotten about Hermione).

**Percy** will never become Minister of Magic and will continue to be as sour as he always used to be. However, his son **Lancelot** will have enough of him and start a life far away from 'annoying, fussing dad': he'll become a top scientist in charm-development in the U.S.A. 

**Liu** will continue running her mum's McRice restaurants and will finally marry **Kevin** Weasley (who would have thought?).

**Valentine** will manage to forget about her love towards Snape, however, she'll realise that while she was in love with Snape, she fell in love with Potions as well, so she'll be a Potions teacher at Beauxbatons *Madame Maxime screams and flees*. 

**Viviane** will be a journalist and will prove that not all journalists are bad… some are even worse. Rhea Skeeter will turn green with envy seeing that Viv can outdo her in this respect.

**Voldemort** will rot in hell and curse the day he was born (either as Tom Riddle or as Norbert Devilsmoor).

**Trelawney **will one day predict her own death and… it'll come true!!!

**Gilderoy** will write several new books on fashion-tips, and will have some facial surgeries done to conceal his wrinkles. He'll also continue being envious of Severus, especially now that Sev's won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award.

**Mrs Figg** will die in a heart attack when her cat named Vader turns to the Dark Side.

**Lucius** will spend most of his time kissing Dementors.

**Rupert** – to Ron's greatest dismay – will decide to become an actor and play in Muggle movies.

**Narcissa** will buy the Three Broomsticks from Rosmerta who will move to London with her new husband, Minister Black. 

As for the others… I'm tired of making up more 'visions of the future' for them. (Hope you're satisfied, Zenon Lee or at least think that I've gone crazy and immediately need a straight-jacket and a padded cell in St. Mungo's :)

Well, anyway, I hope you liked this little (my, did I say 'little'?????) series, I loved writing it and loved reading all your wonderful reviews.

I'd like to thank everyone who has ever given feedback for this trilogy, and since I can't type down the names of everyone who ever reviewed (there must be around 1500 different people), I'm only going to mention the names of those few VERY LOYAL readers who were already writing reviews for TGSiHH back in 2001 and kept writing to the end of TGEEF:

_Alexander Phoenix, AmandaPanda, apple-pie, goldenstar555, jennaration, Kit Cloudkicker, Mage, Myr Halcyon, Nefertiri, Rab, Red Ridding Hood, Toby Haine, X-Tow-Naga, Zenon Lee._

Also special thanks to _Inigma_, I think she knows why :)

Certainly I'm grateful to everyone whose name hasn't been mentioned, I'm thankful to all of you for your comments that made me laugh, made me blush, also gave me inspiration. 

I hope to start posting a new HP fic in autumn (already have some wacky ideas for it - beware, 'cause I'll be back to annoy you with the worst cliffies ever!), so check back on my author site in September/October. Until then, have a nice summer, have a lot of fun reading OotP, bye, love ya all! :)


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